The 2018 Grand Slam of Curling has nearly reached the halfway point, with this week’s assembly in Thunder Bay, Ontario (CAN) for the Tour Challenge. The top entries (by Skip):
Men:
∙ Peter de Cruz (SUI) ~ 2018 Olympic bronze medalists
∙ Niklas Edin (SWE) ~ 2018 World Champion and Olympic silver medalists
∙ John Epping (CAN) ~ 2018 The Masters gold medalists
∙ Brad Gushue (CAN) ~ Defending Grand Slam of Curling champs; won the Elite 10 in 2018
∙ Brad Jacobs (CAN) ~ 2014 Olympic gold medalists
∙ Kevin Koe (CAN) ~ 2016 World Champions
∙ John Shuster (USA) ~ 2018 Olympic gold medalists
Women:
∙ Cory Christensen (USA) ~ 2016 World Junior Championships silver medalists
∙ Rachel Homan (CAN) ~ 2018 Grand Slam of Curling winners; 2017 World Champions
∙ Jennifer Jones (CAN) ~ 2014 Olympic gold medalists and 2018 World Champions
∙ Nina Roth (USA) ~ Two-time U.S. national champions
∙ Jamie Sinclair (USA) ~ 2018 U.S. national champions
This is the third of six “regular-season” tournaments, with the winners qualifying for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup. Gushue returns after winning last year’s Tour Challenge over Steffen Walstad (NOR); he also won the season-opening Elite 10 tournament this season.
This is only the fourth year for the Tour Challenge; Koe, Edin and Gushue have won the three men’s tournaments. Swiss Silvana Trininzoni – who is entered – won the inaugural women’s tournament in 2015.
Round-robin play in groups continues through Friday (9th) with the playoffs on Saturday and final matches on Sunday. Look for results and scores here.
