World Curling Federation to hold sweeping summit to address Frankenbrooms

BASEL, Switzerland – The World Curling Federation will hold a summit on sweeping at the conclusion of this season to address controversial brooms and techniques that surfaced this winter.

Recommendations from the summit will be put before member associations at a congress in September, the WCF said in its announcement Thursday.

The summit will include international athletes, sport experts and ice professionals discussing brush head technology, ice conditions, sweeping techniques, rules and enforcement.

The WCF declared a moratorium on broomheads with “directional fabric”‘ in November with Curling Canada following suit.

Brooms with brushheads featuring “artificially-textured” fabric and hard inserts were banned after almost 50 of the world’s top teams declared they would not use them.

The brooms were used to manipulate the trajectory of a thrown rock in unprecedented ways, and curlers were worried they would affect the integrity of the game.

The men’s world curling championship concludes Sunday in Basel, Switzerland.