What to know for curling’s championship season

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The start of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Friday night kicks off the busy stretch of Canadian and world championships that form the core of the curling season. Here’s a guide to what’s coming up, led by a storyline-rich Scotties.

Tournament of Hearts (Feb 16-25 in Calgary)

The great Jennifer Jones announced Tuesday that this will be her final Scotties as she’s decided to retire from women’s curling at the end of the season (she’ll continue playing mixed doubles with her husband, Brent Laing). But save your rocking chairs: the 49-year-old is a legitimate contender to win a record-breaking seventh Canadian women’s championship.

Last year, with a new set of Manitoba teammates who are half her age, Jones made it all the way to the Scotties final before a loss to Kerri Einarson left her tied with Colleen Jones for the all-time titles record among skips. This season, Jones’ rink won the Grand Slam opener and is currently the second-highest Canadian team in the world rankings, behind Rachel Homan’s.

The three-time Scotties champ and her Ontario rink could be Jones’ biggest obstacle to a storybook ending after winning a pair of Slams this season. Einarson’s Team Canada hasn’t looked the same, but the skip can surpass Colleen Jones (now coaching Nova Scotia) for the consecutive Scotties titles record by winning her fifth straight. Read a full Tournament of Hearts preview here.

The Brier (March 1-10 in Regina): Brad Gushue made history last year, becoming the first skip in the nearly century-long existence of the Brier to win it five times. Now he’ll try to become just the second (after Randy Ferbey in the early 2000s) to capture three consecutive Canadian men’s championships. Among those trying to end the Newfoundlander’s reign are a pair of  Albertans. Kevin Koe can match Gushue with his fifth title, while Brendan Bottcher is a former champ and three-time runner-up. Two top Manitoba skips are also in the hunt. Matt Dunstone lost the final to Gushue last year, and Brad Jacobs won in 2013 for Northern Ontario before switching provinces to join forces with Reid Carruthers last year.

Women’s world championship (March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S.): Can anyone stop Silvana Tirinzoni? The Swiss skip captured her fourth consecutive world title last year in Sweden and remains atop the world rankings after reaching the final at the last two Grand Slams (she lost both to Homan). Canada has won just two of the last 14 women’s worlds, and none since Homan and Jennifer Jones captured back-to-back titles in 2017 and ’18. Last year, Einarson settled for her second bronze in a row — the only medals she has to show for her four straight Canadian titles.

Canadian mixed doubles championship (March 17-22 in Fredericton, N.B.): None of the country’s best curlers seemed to take mixed doubles seriously until it joined the Olympics in 2018 and Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won gold. That got the stars’ attention, leading to the past two national championships being won by decorated skips. Einarson and Gushue teamed up for the title in 2021 and, after the pandemic wiped out 2022, Jones and Laing took it last year.

Men’s world championship (March 30-April 7 in Switzerland): After four straight world titles and the 2022 Olympic gold, Swedish skip Nik Edin’s stranglehold on international men’s curling finally ended last year when Gushue defeated him in the playoffs at the worlds in Ottawa. But Gushue went on to lose the final to Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, extending Canada’s maddening international championship drought. Despite its unmatched depth, Canada has not won a world or Olympic curling title in any of the mainstream events — men’s, women’s and mixed doubles — in six years.

Mixed doubles world championship (April 20-27 in Sweden): If you think that drought is puzzling, get a load of this: Canada has never won the mixed doubles worlds, which have been held 15 times since their inception in 2008. Worse, Canada has reached the gold-medal game only twice. The recent influx of Canadian stars from the four-player game hasn’t even really helped. Einarson and Gushue lost the bronze-medal game in 2021 and Jones and Laing did the same last year.