Who will win the Canadian curling trials?

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One of the biggest events in the run-up to the Winter Olympics begins this weekend as the Canadian curling trials get underway in Halifax.

Eight of the top men's teams and eight of the top women's teams in the country will compete for the chance to represent Canada in the four-player curling events this February in northern Italy. Canada's entry for the mixed doubles event was decided last season when the married couple of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant won their trials and then clinched an Olympic spot for Canada with their sixth-place finish at the world championships. 

The men's and women's trials both open on Saturday at the same arena and follow the same format. They start with a round robin where all the teams play each other once. The team with the best record advances directly to the final, while the second- and third-place teams meet in a semifinal next Thursday to decide who will face the No. 1 seed.

In a change from previous trials, the final is a best-of-three series rather than a single game. Both finals will be played next Friday and Saturday, with the rubber matches on the Sunday if necessary.

Whoever survives this gauntlet will be tasked with restoring Canada's faded reputation in Olympic curling. Since Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones swept the men's and women's golds at the 2014 Games in Russia, Canada has earned just one medal in the four-person events — a bronze by Brad Gushue in 2022.

Worse, half of Canada's Olympic quartets over that time span missed the playoffs, and not for a lack of star power. The four skips who represented Canada at the