The 2007 World Junior Curling Championships get underway this Saturday at the Curl Mesabi complex in Eveleth, Minnesota, USA.

The women's field features Canada, USA, Italy, China, Norway, Scotland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland and defending champions Russia, once again led by skip Ludmila Privivkova. The Russians raised eyebrows in women's play by capturing the Le Gruyere European Championships in Basel, Switzerland last December. They also finished second at January's World University Games in Pinerolo, Italy.

The men's field sees the host United States up against teams from China, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Scotland, Germany, Czech Republic and defending champion Canada. Skip Charley Thomas is back, vying to become the first back-to-back junior men's champion since Canada's John Morris accomplished the feat in 1998 and 1999.

The men's and women's round robin takes place Saturday through Thursday. The women's semifinals are scheduled for 7:00pm Friday with the men's semifinals at 2:00pm on March 10. The women's bronze medal game follows at 6:00pm with the women's gold medal game starting an hour later. The men's bronze medal game will take place at 9:00am on March 11 followed by the men's gold-medal game at 1:30pm.

The event website is located at: wjcc07.com

Live video streaming action from the World Juniors can be viewed on CurlTV at: curltv.com

To learn more about the history of the World Juniors, please visit the World Curling Federation website at: worldcurling.org