Third U.S. Curling Worlds to Follow Olympics

A dreary day in Utah turned surprisingly sunny for a short time on Thursday, when World Curling announced the 2026 World Men’s Curling Championship would be held in a familiar venue.

Following the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, the top global men’s fours competitors will return to the site of the 2002 Games in Ogden, Utah, just north of Salt Lake City.

The 2026 worlds will mark the third consecutive time the United States has hosted the world men’s championship following the Winter Games, with the previous two events being held at Las Vegas in 2018 and 2022.

For me, this is a big deal. Despite having hosted the Olympics in 2002—whose stones we still use today at the Utah Olympic Oval—Utah has no dedicated curling clubs, and these Games should help to ramp up the momentum created when the International Olympic Committee announced the Olympics would be returning in 2036.

Although the state has no dedicated curling ice, three arena curling clubs exist within an hour of each other in northern Utah.

(Arena clubs share their ice rinks with hockey, figure skating and speed skating.)

The region can support curling, and hopefully events like this can spur the development of dedicated facilities in the area.

“It’s cool to keep seeing the worlds in the U.S.,” shared Andrew Stopera of Team Dropkin as they prepare to represent the United States at the 2025 men’s worlds in Moose Jaw, Sask. “It shows how the game is growing here.”

Curling is indeed growing at a good clip in the United States with new arena clubs and new dedicated facilities being built nationwide, including planned facilities in untraditional climates like Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas and Huntsville, Alabama.

Having the event in the U.S. helps to capitalize on the Olympic “bump” we see every four years.

For Phil Blitz, a member at Ogden Curling Club, it’s an exciting opportunity to see his favorite curlers right next door to his club.

“Live curling is a completely different experience than watching online,” Blitz said. “You always hear the expression, ‘It’s better in person’ for any sport, and that holds true for curling.”

While the announcement has received a chillier-than-normal reception due to current world events, this plan has been in the works for quite some time. In September, World Curling officials mentioned to me that a championship would be returning to Utah “soon” but did not indicate just how soon.

World Curling is certainly trying to capitalize on the recent Olympics announcement, and they’re not alone in planning events in the U.S.

The Grand Slam of Curling is expected to hold a Slam in the United States next season, and their upcoming All-Star Game will be held in Nashville.

While curling is planned to be in a different venue in downtown Salt Lake City for the 2036 Olympics, World Curling is showing they still see the United States as a ripe opportunity to see the game grow.

Stopera sees it the same way. “To see World Curling keep having faith that different places in our country can hold these important championships—it means a lot.”