What to watch this weekend in Olympic sports

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A few things for Canadian fans to keep an eye on:

Unlike the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where Rachel Homan went undefeated for the second straight year, the Canadian men's curling championship looks wide open ahead of the opening draw tonight in Kelowna, B.C.

Yes, Brad Gushue has won three straight Briers, four in the past five years, and a record six in his career. But he's 44 now and his St. John's-based team has struggled of late, going 2-7 in the last two Grand Slams, including 0-4 in the most recent one. Gushue's decision in October to drop powerful sweeper E.J. Harnden in favour of 2021 Brier-winning skip Brendan Bottcher does not seem to be paying off at the moment.

Among those looking to dethrone Gushue is Alberta's Brad Jacobs, who skipped Northern Ontario to the Brier title in 2013 and won Olympic gold the next year. Jacobs is now playing with Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert — Bottcher's former teammates. Manitoba's Matt Dunstone (who picked up Harnden after his split with Team Gushue), Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen and Northern Ontario's John Epping are the other top challengers.

The Brier winner will represent Canada at the men's world championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., and might be considered the early favourite to win the Canadian Olympic trials next fall.

If you missed yesterday's newsletter, here's our Brier preview.

The long track World Cup tour wraps up this weekend in the Netherlands, where skaters will also be gearing up for the world single-distances championships in Norway in two weeks.

The top-ranked Canadian is Laurent Dubreuil, who