Finland's men and the Czech Republic's women have filled the gaps after Russian teams were banned from this year's World Curling Championships ©Getty Images

Finland’s men and the Czech Republic’s women have been added to the fields for the upcoming World Curling Championships following the removal of Russian teams in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.

The newly vacated spots in the line-ups were initially offered by the World Curling Federation (WCF) to the third-place finishers from the World Qualification Event 2022 held in Lohja, Finland in January.

That offer was accepted by Finland’s men, who lost the second playoff game to The Netherlands but who now complete the 13-team roster for the World Men’s Curling Championship, due to take place in Las Vegas between April 2 and 10. 

Latvia were offered the position in the World Women’s Championship, due to start in Prince Georgia in British Columbia on Saturday (March 19), following their third-place finish in the World Qualification Event 2022’s competition.

However, due to the short timeline to the beginning of the Championship, they were unable to accept this offer.

Following this, Finland were then offered the position as fourth-place finishers at the World Qualification Event 2022, but were also unable to accept.

Finland's men have been added to this year's World Curling Championships following the ban on Russian teams imposed by the World Curling Federation ©Getty Images
Finland's men have been added to this year's World Curling Championships following the ban on Russian teams imposed by the World Curling Federation ©Getty Images

As such, it was determined that the three teams ranked highest in the world rankings, who had not yet qualified for the Championship, would be offered the place, with the understanding that the highest ranked side would have the first refusal on securing the vacant position.

From this process, Czech Republic emerged to complete the line-up for the World Women’s Curling Championship.

The playing and broadcast schedules for both Championships are now under evaluation and additional details will be released as they become available.

The Russian Curling Federation was banned from competing for the remainder of the 2021-2022 international season by the WCF, which announced on March 6 that it had adopted a new rule.

The rule states: "The Board of the WCF may remove a team or Member Association from any WCF event if in the sole opinion of the Board their presence at the event would damage the event or put the safety of the participants or th good order of the event at risk."

The International Federation added: "The World Curling Federation strongly condemns the military action undertaken by the Russian Government in their invasion of Ukraine and continues to hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to the situation."