Marvel Curling, Thomas Ulsrud and More

What’s the latest goings-on in the curling world, you might ask?

Let’s start in Italy.

• After a few weeks of anticipation, Stefania Constantini announced her new team. 

Angela Romei – as expected – is on board, and the new faces are young sisters, Allegra and Lucrezia Grande.

The Grandes are part of a new wave of youthful Italian sibling competitors making the jump to high-profile competition next season – much like the Spiller brothers and the Gilli brothers in men’s play.

The Constantini’ confirmation follows news that her former outfit is sticking together with a new recruit.

• To no one’s surprise, Swiss women’s ace Alina Paetz will return to the tee after the retirement of Silvana Tirinzoni.

Two-year teammate Selina Witschonke is in tow, along with front-enders Stefanie Berset and Renée Frigo.

Before forming a super-squad with Tirinzoni, Paetz skipped her own team – the former Mirjam Ott squad – to the 2015 world women’s championship title.

Meanwhile, a couple of retirements have taken place in Scotland.

• Rebecca Morrison has ended her women’s career after a sixth-place appearance at the Milano-Cortina Olympics. She competed in four world championships and her signature podium finish was a silver at the most recent European Championships.

• Hailey Duff also bade farewell. She won Olympic gold in 2022 at lead stone with Eve Muirhead; the last remaining member of that team who is still competing is Jennifer Dodds.

Morrison and Duff are both 29, continuing a disturbing trend of young female athletes departing from the sport.

• In Canada, the new Team Tardi – Mike McEwen’s former outfit with the young BC/Alberta player at the tee – has unveiled a new logo, and it’s kind of cool.

It’s got Marvel Cinematic Universe vibes, actually. With an expected Sasky element.

• World Curling ran pre-qualifying tournaments for the men’s and women’s 2027 world championships last month, and the European theatre event was held in Slovenia.

At Ljubljana, hosts Slovenia and Latvia grabbed the men’s berths, with Finland finishing third and England fourth. 

On the women’s side, France – hosts to the next Olympic Winter Games in 2030 – surprised many by going 6-1 to claim the first qualifying berth, while Poland upended Slovakia to grab the second spot.

Earlier, the Pan-Continental region held its men’s pre-world qualifying championship at Dumfries, Scotland. 

Mexico and India grabbed the berths, while Jamaica made a strong run to finish third, their first men’s podium finish at this level of competition.

• Finally, Thomas Ulsrud – who was posthumously inducted into the World Curling Hall of Fame in 2024 – was honoured with the formal presentation of that award on the occasion of the second memorial tournament held in his name. 

World Curling vice president Morten Søgård was on hand for the official induction at Snarøya Curlinghall, which also hosted the 20-team tournament. Ulsrud’s family received the award.

The popular Norwegian men’s team skip passed away four years ago after a battle with cancer.

The tournament raised some 120,000 in Norwegian kroner to be split amongst three charities: the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Thomas Ulsrud Memorial Fund and Right To Play.