Defending Olympic champion Brad Gushue got off to a great start this curling season by winning the first event of the Curling Champions Tour. Gushue’s Canadian rink was one of the favorites heading into this tournament and they did disappoint, beating Team Ulsrud’s Norwegian team 6-3 in the finals. This tournament win has put Gushue into top spot in the CCT Rankings, while dropping Ulsrud down to second place. As the Olympics approach, all of these top levels teams will be jostling for position as they attempt to not only qualify for the Olympics, but also put themselves in a good position heading into the tournament.
This win is a major confidence boost for Gushue in this Olympic year and he has to be one of the favorites to win the Canadian Olympic qualifying tournament later on this year. Randy Ferby’s rink, however, showed that it will be a contender as well, as they finished third in this tournament by beating the defending world champion Team Murdoch in the third place game. This season looks as though it will be very competitive between these teams and there is some great curling to look forward to on the CCT.
The next Curling Champions Tour event will be held September 24-27 in Oslo, Norway and it looks as though it will be a major event. This is a female event that will host many of the top curlers in the world including the Jennifer Jones rink out of Canada, Annette Norberg out of Sweden, and Gillian Howard out of Scotland. All of the top teams in the world are attempting to get as much big game experience as possible this season, which means that there should be many great games coming out of the Curling Champions Tour.
The prize money at these tournament is also extremely high, which is great for the players because they are able to spend more time curling than ever before. As curling becomes more of a professional sport, it will benefit the fans because they will be able to watch more high level curling throughout the year. These tournaments are a great example of this because they provide world championship level curling at smaller events throughout the year. Eventually, the CCT is looking to become similar to the PGA tour of golf, as it will hold bonspiels throughout the year at which top level curlers can compete.
