Pre-Trials Begin in Wolfville for Olympic Berths

The 2025 Home Hardware Canadian Curling PreTrials began Monday at the Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, as 16 teams compete this week for the two final berths into the Montanas Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax next month, the event that will decide Canada’s representatives for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy. The pretrials feature eight women’s and eight men’s rinks that qualified by ranking and eligibility and are vying for the single spots in each field that will join already-qualified teams in November.

The format mirrors the trials: an eight-team round robin in each gender with the top three advancing. Second and third place meet in a sudden-death semifinal Friday, and the survivor faces the round-robin winner in a best-of-three championship series scheduled for Saturday and Sunday if necessary. A strong round-robin showing is crucial, because only three teams per gender reach the weekend playoff phase.

Early results have produced tight standings and headline performances. On the women’s side Kayla MacMillan’s Victoria rink opened strong and remained unbeaten through early draws, while Alberta’s Selena Sturmay delivered several key...