World meets commonly run for 15 days on a schedule whose details vary.
During qualifying sessions for the pairs, the McConnell teams were reduced from sixteen to four, and players from the twelve "knocked out" teams were eligible to enter pairs competition at the semifinal stage.
[1] United States pairs have won ten of 14 tournaments through 2014, Great Britain two, Netherlands one, China one.
Fritzi Gordon and Rixi Markus of Great Britain (native Austrians) are the only two-time champion pair; Americans Karen McCallum and Kerri Sanborn/Shuman also have two wins each including one as partners in 1990.
Sanborn is also the only winner of two gold medals in the World Mixed Pairs Championship, which is contested at the same quadrennial meet.