The Milan Cortina 2026 trials will use a best-of-three final format, according to curling Canada.
Just eight women’s and eight men’s teams will compete in curling Canada’s trials for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which are scheduled for November 2025. The competition will follow a new format that will see the final play out as a best-of-three series for the first time.
Only the top three teams will proceed to the playoffs in the four-player Olympic trials, which begin with a round-robin draw, according to CBC.
While the top team advances straight to the final, which will be determined in a first-ever best-of-three format, the second and third-place teams will square off in a semi-final.
The four-player Olympic trials are slated to take place at an unidentified location from November 22 to November 30, 2025.
The pre-trials follow the same schedule and are held in October.
The mixed doubles Olympic trials format is still being finalized, according to Curling Canada, and will be revealed later this year.
Katherine Henderson, CEO of Curling Canada, stated, “We feel confident that these changes will give our high-performance athletes the best opportunity to succeed.”
“There were a lot of voices, from athletes, funding partners, and coaches, who played a valued and significant role in getting us to this point and while there is still work to be done, we feel we are in a better place leading to the 2026 Winter Olympics.”
Beginning in the next year, Curling Canada will also be making modifications to the Tournament of Hearts and the Brier.
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