 With the 2026 Olympic quadrennial barely in the books, Winnipeg's Jordon McDonald (photo: Curling Canada) leads the hunt for 2030 (and beyond). The next generation of Canadian curlers will hit the ice at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton beginning Saturday, vying for a chance to be included in Curling Canada's national NextGen Development Program. The U-25 NextGen Classic will feature 12 men's teams and 10 women's teams, competing for a share of a combined $34,000 purse and access to national coaches, development camps, and other high performance resources. The event was previously held at the beginning of the season in August, but has moved to April, allowing teams more time to prepare, compete and train. "We are excited to change the timing of Curling Canada's U-25 NextGen Classic for the Men's and Women's divisions this year," said Helen Radford, Curling Canada's Manager of NextGen & Podium Pathway. "It gives U-25 teams an important event at the end of their season, and the teams that win will become part of our National NextGen Program now, so we have more time to work with them." The U-25 Mixed Doubles event, typically held around the same time as the men's and women's, will still be held early in the 2026-2027 season. Teams from across the country will make the trip to Edmonton, some of whom have already found success in their young careers. Winnipeg's Jordan McDonald, a previous winner of the U-25 NextGen Classic, went on to win the Home Hardware Canadian Pre-Trials, and make a splash at the Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax. He's ranked as the No. 1 team in this year's event. Truro, Nova Scotia's Calan MacIsaac, who represented Canada at this year's World Junior Championship (finishing fourth), is also in the field. On the women's side - Melodie Forsythe (Fredericton) and Grace Lloyd (Whitby, Ont.) both played in this year's Scotties Tournament of Hearts and look to end the season with another victory at the NextGen Classic, which would set them up with funding and NextGen coaching for next season. Even without a victory, the young curlers will have opportunities to work with, and learn from, some of Curling Canada's national staff. "Renee Sonnenberg, Curling Canada's Performance Analyst, will be on site to work to with all the athletes and coaches on analytics," said Radford. "Marc Kennedy will be speaking to all the teams about his Olympic experience. We have teams all across Canada from NL to BC and look forward to a great competition." The teams - whose ages must add up to less than 100 (under 25, on average) - will play a round-robin draw in pools over the weekend, leading to playoffs on Monday and Tuesday. |
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With the 2026 Olympic quadrennial barely in the books, Winnipeg's Jordon McDonald (photo: Curling Canada) leads the hunt for 2030 (and beyond).
