Curling season is ramping up — here's what's new

Though most of the world's best curlers have already been on the ice for weeks, the heart of the 2026-27 season began yesterday as the first Grand Slam event, the Co-op Invitational, got underway in Victoria.

The powerhouse Canadian teams skipped by Brad Jacobs and Rachel Homan remain intact after winning Olympic gold and bronze, respectively, last winter in Italy. But the start of a fresh Olympic cycle always brings about sweeping changes, and that's certainly the case this season — both on and off the ice.

Here's a quick primer to help you sort it all out.

Goodbye, Gushue

After a 20-plus-year run as one of the world's premier skips, Brad Gushue retired following the Brier in his hometown of St. John's, where he was eliminated in the playoffs by Jacobs. Gushue, now 46, walked away with a record six Brier titles as a skip, one world championship, an Olympic gold (in 2006, when veteran Russ Howard called the shots for him) and an Olympic bronze (in 2022).

Other high-profile retirees include Sweden's Nik Edin, who went out on top after capturing his record-extending eighth men's world championship, and Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni, who won four straight women's world titles from 2019-2023 before taking silver at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Canadian power sweeper E.J. Harnden also retired after helping Gushue capture back-to-back Briers in 2023 and '24 and winning an Olympic gold with Jacobs in 2014. Canadian skip Kaitlyn Lawes, an Olympic gold medallist in both women's (under Jennifer Jones in 2014) and mixed doubles (with John Morris in 2018) is taking a year off after the breakup of her team.

Old faces in new places

With everyone's sights now set on the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps, some interesting roster