The Road to Milano Cortina 2026 Begins Tomorrow: Canadian Olympic Curling Trials Set to Crown Canada’s Best
November 21, 2025
Halifax, Nova Scotia — After four years of preparation, anticipation, and intense competition, the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials get underway tomorrow at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, running from November 22 to 30. The stakes couldn’t be higher: the winners of the men’s and women’s events will represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.
A New Format for Olympic Glory
For the first time since 2013, the Olympic Trials returned to an eight-team format, with teams earning their spots through national championship victories or strong performances in the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS). The competition will feature, for the first time in Trials history, a best-of-three final.
The competitions will start with a round-robin, where all teams per gender will play against each other once. The winner after all games played will advance straight to the best-of-three series final, while the second and third-place teams of each gender will meet in a semi-final game to determine who advances.
Women’s Field: Homan’s Trials to Lose
Team Rachel Homan enters the 2025 Trials as the undisputed favourites. The Ottawa-based rink of skip Rachel Homan, vice Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, and lead Sarah Wilkes has been nothing short of dominant. Team Homan won back-to-back women’s world titles for Canada, and their recent form is staggering. Team Homan won all three Grand Slams – the Masters in September, the Tour Challenge in October and the Lake Tahoe Slam in November – by beating Swiss rivals Team Silvana Tirinzoni in the final each time.
Perhaps most remarkably, Team Homan is 11-0 against Canadian teams and 6-0 against Trials teams this season, including 1-0 against Team Einarson. The Ottawa foursome is a remarkable 80-2 against Canadian teams since the start of the 2023-24 season. Statistical analysis supports the overwhelming sentiment: Homan has a 91 per cent chance of winning the trials, while no one else — including four-time Scotties champ Kerri Einarson and Kaitlyn Lawes, the 2018 Olympic mixed doubles gold medallist — has even a 1-in-20 shot.
However, four-time Tournament of Hearts champion Kerri Einarson and her Gimli, Man., rink being the biggest threat. The two powerhouses will face each other in the round-robin finale on November 26, a match that could determine who earns the bye straight to the final.
The women’s field also includes Olympic gold medallist Kaitlyn Lawes (throwing fourth stones for Team Njegovan), Calgary’s Team Kayla Skrlik, Winnipeg’s Team Kate Cameron, hometown hopefuls Team Christina Black of Halifax, Kamloops’ Team Corryn Brown, and Edmonton’s Team Selena Sturmay.
Men’s Competition: Wide Open Battle
The men’s side promises fierce competition among elite veteran teams. Brad Jacobs was the skip of the team that won gold at Sochi 2014. His current teammates are also familiar with playing on Olympic ice. Third Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert won gold together at Vancouver 2010 while second Brett Gallant was a bronze medallist at Beijing 2022. Team Jacobs enters as the defending Montana’s Brier champions.
But the field is loaded with championship pedigree. Team Gushue features three members of the team that won bronze in the men’s event at Beijing 2022: skip Brad Gushue, third Mark Nichols, and lead Geoff Walker. The St. John’s, Newfoundland squad is looking for one final Olympic moment.
Other contenders include Team Matt Dunstone, who is 3-0 against Team Jacobs this season and 10-3 against Trials teams, Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe, Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen and Team Rylan Kleiter, Sudbury’s Team John Epping, and Winnipeg’s Team Jordan McDonald.
Olympic Redemption on the Line
Since Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones swept the men’s and women’s golds at the 2014 Games in Russia, Canada has earned just one medal in the four-person events — a bronze by Brad Gushue in 2022. Worse, half of Canada’s Olympic quartets over that time span missed the playoffs.
For Team Homan specifically, this represents a chance at redemption. The reigning world champion has competed at two previous Olympics without reaching the podium. For the first time, Canadian athletes will be permitted to compete in both mixed doubles and four-player curling at the Olympic Games, adding another layer of intrigue for athletes like Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, who have already secured Olympic spots in mixed doubles.
How to Watch
First draw begins tomorrow at 2 p.m. Atlantic Time (1 p.m. ET). Viewers in Canada can watch the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials live on TSN and the TSN network.
The competition runs through November 30, with semifinals on November 27 and the best-of-three finals taking place November 28-30. After years of preparation and a grueling qualification process, Canada’s curling elite will finally answer the question: who will wear the maple leaf in Milano Cortina?
