Canada's Olympic curling battle is underway
CBC
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In many ways, it began a while ago. Five men's and four women's rinks have already qualified for Canada's Olympic curling trials in Saskatoon in late November, which will decide who gets to play in the men's and women's tournaments at the Beijing Olympics this February. But the race for the rest of the spots in the 10-team trials fields heats up with a pair of bonspiels running concurrently from Wednesday to Sunday in Ottawa. Here's what to know about them:
Canadian Curling Trials Direct-Entry Event
As the name suggests, teams in this one can qualify directly for the trials. On the women's side, five teams will battle for three berths. The skips are 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts semifinalist Laura Walker (Edmonton), 12-time Scotties participant Suzanne Birt (Charlottetown), Corryn Brown (Kamloops, B.C.), Kelsey Rocque (Edmonton) and Casey Scheidegger (Lethbridge, Alta.). Meanwhile, five men's teams will fight for two trials tickets. They're skipped by four-time Brier winner (two as a skip) Glenn Howard (Penetanguishene, Ont.), 2017 trials finalist Mike McEwen (Winnipeg), 2020 and '21 Brier semifinalist Matt Dunstone (Regina), Jason Gunnlaugson (Winnipeg) and Colton Flasch (Saskatoon).
Canadian Curling Pre-Trials Direct-Entry Event
This one can only get you into the 14-team men's or women's pre-trials tournament (basically, the trials for the trials) in late October in Liverpool, N.S. From there, the top two men's and women's teams advance to the 10-team trials proper. So the eight men's and eight women's rinks involved in this event in Ottawa are a long way off from Beijing. The quality of the field reflects that — unless you're a hardcore curling fan, you probabaly won't recognize more than a couple of the skips. But the women's side includes 18-time Scotties participant Kerry Galusha and Laurie St-Georges, the 24-year-old Quebec skip who turned some heads at this year's Scotties by going 6-2 in the opening round before losing all four of her games in the championship pool. Read more about both Ottawa tournaments here.
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