Mixed doubles curling was added to the roster of events for the 2018 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee announced Monday.

The decision, announced following an Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, follows years of lobbying by the World Curling Federation and various national curling associations, including those of the United States and Canada.

(The USA 2016 Mixed Doubles Curling National Championships will be held at the Denver Curling Club in Golden!)

Mixed doubles pits teams of two – one male and one female – against one another. While it is played around the world, some of the most successful teams come from countries that have not dominated international competition with traditional men’s and women’s four-member teams.

In mixed doubles, two stones are prepositioned on the center line – one in the front half of the button, or center of the house, and another in a guard position in front of the house – before each end. There are eight ends to a game.

Each team then delivers five stones. One player delivers the first and last stones, while the teammate delivers the middle three stones. Scoring is akin to traditional curling – points are scored for each of a single team’s stones that are closest to the button, or the center of the house.

The players may swap positions from end to end, and both team members are allowed to sweep the team’s stones.

(Learn more about curling at USA Curling website.  Try curling in Colorado by joining a Learn to Curl offered by the Broadmoor Curling Club in Colorado Springs.)

Also Monday, the International Paralympic Committee announced that the wheelchair curling field for the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang will be expanded from 10 to 12 teams.

Team USA – Sarah Anderson (Broomall, Pa.) and Korey Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.) (in photo) – was knocked out of the 2015 World Mixed Doubles Curling competition by Canada (Kalynn Park and Charley Thomas).

Hungary won gold at the competition in April in Sochi, defeating Sweden 6-5 at the Ice Cube Curling Center. Norway won bronze after defeating Canada, 9-4.

Team USA 2015 Mixed Double Curling: Korey Dropkin of Southborough, Mass., and Sarah Anderson of Broomall, Pa. Dropkin and Anderson, successful junior curlers, won the 2015 Mixed Doubles national title in Eau Clair, Wis.

Team Kizlyk – Darrick Kizlyk of Colorado Springs and Dena Rosenberry of Manitou Springs – fell a game shy of the playoffs at the 2015 Mixed Doubles National Curling Championships in Eau Clair, Wis. The team has competed at nationals for mixed doubles curling three times and has made the playoffs once. Kizlyk and Rosenberry made up half the bronze medal team at the 2015 USA Mixed Curling National Championships held in Blaine, Minn., in April.