Next Olympic curling trials to be held in Ottawa
To get to PyeongChang, Canada’s curlers must first go through the nation’s capital.
Curling Canada announced on Monday that the Roar of the Rings, the tournament that will decide Canada’s Olympic curling teams for 2018, will take place at the Canadian Tire Centre, December 2-10, 2017.
The final qualifying tournament for that event, the Road to the Roar Pre-Trials, will take place November 6-12 in Summerside, PEI.
The Jones rink won Roar of the Rings in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2013 en route to their Sochi 2014 gold medal.
The full qualification process as well as the tournament formats will be announced before the end of this curling season.
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The Road to the Roar Pre-Trials already has some known entrants. Reigning Olympic champion Jennifer Jones is in after winning the Tournament of Hearts last month. The winner of this week’s Brier will also earn a berth. Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Edmonton’s Val Sweeting have each qualified by winning the 2014 Canada Cup.
The first direct qualifiers for the Roar of the Rings will be decided at this year’s Canada Cup, December 2-6 in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Sochi 2014 Olympic champ Team Jacobs, went through Pre-Trials before winning Roar of the Rings for the right to represent Canada.
Canada made history at Sochi 2014, becoming the first country to win both the men’s and women’s Olympic gold medals at the same Games. Jones’ team had qualified directly for the Roar of the Rings, but Brad Jacobs’ rink had to advance from the Pre-Trials to get their shot at Olympic glory. At PyeongChang 2018, Canada will look to maintain its podium streak in both events, dating back to curling’s return to the Olympic program at Nagano 1998.
