Team Canada will look to defend its world champion title at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, taking place April 9-20 in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.

As with the 4 Nations Face-Off, the tournament will place a spotlight on the longstanding rivalry between Team Canada and Team USA. In the first 23 world championships Canadians have squared off against Americans in the final a total of 22 times. And with 13 world titles to its name, Team Canada has the better track record of coming out on top.

Another similarity to the 4 Nations Face-Off is that the world championship will potentially serve as a preview of a Team Canada roster that could take to the ice at the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. 

Here’s what you need to know to cheer on Team Canada once again.

Who is playing for Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship?

Team Canada will take a strong team of 14 forwards, eight defenders, and three goaltenders to Ceske Budejovice, offering a preview of the potential Olympic roster. Team Canada is coached by Troy Ryan, who also led the Canadians to Olympic gold at Beijing 2022 and will lead them at the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Games.

Team Canada’s roster includes 18 athletes who represented Canada at the 2024 World Championship (Erin Ambrose, Kristen Campbell, Emily Clark, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast, Sarah Fillier, Julia Gosling, Brianne Jenner, Jocelyne Larocque, Emma Maltais, Sarah Nurse, Kristin O’Neill, Marie-Philip Poulin, Danielle Serdachny, Ella Shelton, Natalie Spooner, Laura Stacey, Blayre Turnbull), and five athletes who will make their world championship debut wearing the maple leaf (Jennifer Gardiner, Ève Gascon, Sophie Jaques, Chloe Primerano, Daryl Watts). The roster features 17 Team Canada Olympians.

Team Canada’s roster includes some familiar veteran names. “Captain Clutch” Marie-Philip Poulin—who earned that nickname due to her penchant for scoring game-winning goals in the highest pressure moments, including three different Olympic gold medal games—will make her 13th world championship appearance for Team Canada. Poulin currently leads the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in goals scored.

Renata Fast, Sarah Fillier and Daryl Watts lead the PWHL in assists, with 15 apiece at the time of writing. Fast will make her seventh world championship appearance for Canada, while Fillier will make her fifth, and Watts her first. Watts is also third overall in points in the PWHL. 

Ann-Renée Desbiens, the top-ranked goalie in the PWHL with a 0.932 save percentage and 1.85 goals against average, is expected to be between the pipes for Team Canada. Desbiens was a hero for Team Canada during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, setting a Canadian Olympic record (for men and women) with 51 saves in a single game.

Sarah Nurse is another familiar name to Team Canada fans, as she broke the points record for a single Olympic tournament while playing for Canada at Beijing 2022.

At only 18 years old, rookie Chloe Primerano is the youngest on the team, while three-time Olympic medallist Jocelyne Larocque is the team’s eldest player at 36.

What is the Olympic significance of the IIHF Women’s World Championship?

The 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship will be the last major international tournament before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, making it a prime opportunity for nations to test-drive potential Olympic rosters, or see where they might need to make changes. World championship head coach Troy Ryan is set to lead Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026, providing consistency across the two tournaments.

In particular, the world championship will serve as an opportunity for Team Canada and Team USA to see where their rivalry stands ahead of Milano Cortina 2026. In the seven iterations of the women’s ice hockey at the Olympic Games, Team Canada and Team USA have faced off for the gold medal six times. Team Canada is the defending Olympic champion, having defeated the USA 3-2 in the final at Beijing 2022.

Milano Cortina 2026 is set to be the first women’s Olympic tournament since the launch of the PWHL in 2024, so the impact of the new league on Olympic play is yet to be determined. The vast majority of Team Canada’s players (23 out of 25) play within the PWHL. The other two players are in the NCAA as they pursue post-secondary education.

What is Team Canada’s history at the IIHF Women’s World Championship?

Canada enters the 2025 tournament as the defending champion, having defeated the United States 6-5 in overtime at the 2024 World Championship.

From its 23 appearances at the IIHF Women’s World Championships since the tournament began in 1990, Team Canada has 13 gold medals to its name, along with nine silver and one bronze medal. 

As it does at the Olympic Games, the Canada-USA rivalry runs deep at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Team Canada has faced Team USA in the championship final 22 times. 

What is the format for the 2025 Women’s World Championship?

Teams will be divided into Group A (Canada, Czechia, Finland, Switzerland, and USA) and Group B (Germany, Hungary, Japan, Norway and Sweden). All five teams from Group A and the top three teams from Group B will move on to the playoff round.

The quarterfinal matches will pit A1 vs B3, A2 vs B2, A3 vs B1, A4 vs A5.

The semifinals will match up the top-ranked team against the lowest-ranked semifinalist, while the second- and third-ranked semifinalists play against one another. The winners advance to the championship game, while the losing teams will play for bronze.

The tournament utilizes a three-point system:

• Three points awarded for a win in regulation time
• One point awarded to each team for a tie at the end of regulation time
• An additional point (for a total of two points) is awarded to the winning team after a five-minute overtime period or shootout
• No points are awarded to a team that loses in regulation time

As mentioned above, tied games in the preliminary rounds of the tournament result in a five-minute overtime period, followed by a shootout if no goal is scored during overtime. Overtime periods are played three-on-three (three skaters, plus a goaltender).

In the event of a tie during a playoff game, 10 minutes of overtime will be played before a shootout. In the gold medal game, 20 minute periods of overtime will be played until the winning goal is scored.

During a shootout, five players from each team will alternate taking shots. If the game remains tied after all ten players have shot, the shootout will continue with a tie-break shot by one player on each team. It can be the same or new players who take the tie-break shots.

What is Team Canada’s schedule at the IIHF Women’s World Championship?

Team Canada will have a pre-tournament camp in Tabor, Czechia ahead of the preliminary round, which begins on April 10 for the Canadians.

Preliminary round games:

• Thursday, April 10, 1:00pm ET Canada vs Finland
• Friday, April 11, 7:00pm ET Canada vs Switzerland
• Sunday, April 13, 1:00pm ET Canada vs USA
• Monday, April 14, 1:00pm ET Canada vs Czechia

Quarterfinal games will take place on Thursday, April 17, followed by semifinals on Saturday, April 19. The medal matches will be played on Sunday, April 20.

Fans can tune in to watch games on TSN.

Team Canada 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship Roster

Forwards:

Laura Stacey
Sarah Fillier
Brianne Jenner
Sarah Nurse
Emily Clark
Emma Maltais
Marie-Philip Poulin
Blayre Turnbull
Kristin O’Neill
Danielle Serdachny
Jennifer Gardiner
Daryl Watts
Julia Gosling
Natalie Spooner

Defence:

Sophie Jaques
Jocelyne Larocque
Renata Fast
Ella Shelton
Chloe Primerano
Erin Ambrose
Micah Zandee-Hart
Claire Thompson

Goaltenders:

Kristen Campbell
Ann-Renée Desbiens
Ève Gascon

Olympic quota spots were secured at the World Figure Skating Championships where Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier were absolutely sterling. Eliot Grondin achieved a major career milestone by becoming a world champion, while Reece Howden finished the season as the top male ski cross racer on the World Cup circuit. Plus, Cassie Sharpe put a bronze bow on her comeback season in ski halfpipe.

Read on for the details behind those headlines.

Figure Skating: Gilles & Poirier win silver at worlds

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier collected a second consecutive silver medal at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships. In their 12th world championship appearance together, they scored 130.10 in the free dance for an overall total of 216.54 to finish second behind now three-time world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States.

READ: Gilles & Poirier skate to second straight ice dance silver at World Figure Skating Championships

Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha finished seventh overall with a total score of 200.41. Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer made a promising world championship debut, qualifying for the free dance to finish among the top 10 teams in the world. All together, those results mean Canada has qualified three ice dance teams for Milano Cortina 2026.

READ: Team Canada qualifies seven Olympic spots at World Figure Skating Championships

In pairs, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps fought hard in the free skate and finished in the top five with a total score of 199.76. Having entered the worlds as the defending champions, they bounced back from a disappointing seventh-place finish in the short program

“Wednesday was very disappointing, especially since our mistakes occurred in elements where we are excellent,” said Stellato-Dudek. “We wanted to come back strong and rebound. We had nothing to lose and had to fight until the very end. […] We were so far behind after the short program, all we could do was give it our all and that’s what we did.”

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud finished 11th overall, which means Canada has earned two pairs spots for the next Olympic Games. Canada’s third pair, Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier, finished 16th overall.

READ: Figure skaters set out to secure Olympic quota spots for Canada at world championships 

Madeline Schizas delivered a career-best finish at the world championships, finishing 11th in the women’s event. After an impressive sixth-place standing following the short program, Schizas poured everything into her free skate, however, a few small errors prevented her from staying in the top 10. Her total score of 190.79 marked a new season’s best.

“I’m a little disappointed, but these things happen,” said Schizas. “There was a lot of pressure today and I’m still satisfied with the way I skated. It wasn’t perfect, but I feel like I was well prepared. I perhaps had a little less speed and that got reflected in my program.”

Roman Sadovsky put together two of his best programs in some time, earning a season’s best total score of 240.38 to finish 14th overall.

Snowboard Cross: Grondin adds world title to his resumé

Éliot Grondin won his first senior world championship title in men’s snowboard cross at the 2025 FIS Snowboard World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland on Friday. It is his second medal at the worlds following a bronze in 2021.

“I had a pretty good start and I was battling with the guys in the pack, and I just decided to stay patient and build speed,” Grondin said. “They had a bit of contact, so I think that helped me.”

READ: Éliot Grondin captures world championship title in snowboard cross

The 23-year-old sits comfortably atop this season’s World Cup standings with a 141-point lead over his closest competitor, Loan Bozzolo of France. The Crystal Globe will be awarded at the final World Cup event of the season, fittingly taking place on home snow for Grondin, at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, April 4-6.

Ski Halfpipe: Sharpe wins world championship bronze

Cassie Sharpe earned her first world championship medal since 2019, taking bronze in women’s ski halfpipe at the 2025 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Engadin, Switzerland.

READ : Cassie Sharpe wins halfpipe bronze at the Freestyle Skiing World Championships

The two-time Olympic medallist needed a big second run to get onto the podium. She scored 88.00 to jump over compatriot and fellow Olympic medallist Rachael Karker, whose first run score of 86.25 left her in fourth place overall. It caps a remarkable comeback season for Sharpe, who took two years away from competition, during which she became a mom.

Dillan Glennie and Amy Fraser both advanced to the final but did not start. The top Canadian in the men’s ski halfpipe final was Brendan Mackay who finished seventh.

Ski Cross: Howden gets hands on third Crystal Globe

Reece Howden won both of the final men’s ski cross events of the season in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, earning him the Crystal Globe. Those were his sixth and seventh World Cup victories of the season, bringing him to 18 for his career. It is the third time in five years that Howden has topped the World Cup standings.

READ : Reece Howden wins Crystal Globe in ski cross

Courtney Hoffos also ended the season on a high, earning two hard-fought second place finishes in the immediate aftermath of her silver medal at the world championships. She had five podium performances on the World Cup circuit this season, all of which came since the start of February.

Despite being unable to race in Idre Fjäll after suffering a small fracture to her sternum at the world championships, India Sherret finished the season third overall in the World Cup standings.

Aerials: Pair of near podium performances at world championships

Alexandre Duchaine just missed out on the podium at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, finishing fourth in men’s aerials. His score of 105.21 in the second final round was just 1.91 points back of the bronze medal. It is a career-best world championship performance for the 20-year-old.

Marion Thénault finished fifth in women’s aerials with a score of 90.15 points in the second final round. She had posted the top score in the first final round, earning 104.31 for her triple twisting triple flip, but was unable to land it as cleanly in the second final round.

Ski Big Air: Two Canadian women in top 5 at worlds

Olivia Asselin and Megan Oldham both finished in the top five of women’s big air at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. Asselin had a total score of 167.00 for her best two of three runs in the final, putting her in fourth place. She missed the bronze medal by just 0.75. Oldham, who had won slopestyle bronze a week earlier at the worlds, finished fifth overall with a score of 162.00.

Snowboard Halfpipe: Hosking in top seven at worlds

Elizabeth Hosking finished seventh in women’s halfpipe at the FIS Snowboard World Championships. The silver medallist from the 2023 Worlds was in fifth place after scoring 79.50 in the first run. But she was unable to improve her position when she fell during her second run and eventually dropped two spots in the standings. Brooke D’Hondt also made it to the final where she finished ninth overall based on a first run score of 74.75.

Rugby: Canada takes bronze at Hong Kong SVNS

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team won bronze at the Hong Kong SVNS after defeating France in the third-place playoff game on Sunday. The season-best result for Canada moved the team into fourth place in the overall SVNS Series standings, confirming their spot among the eight women’s teams that will compete in the SVNS World Championship in May in Los Angeles.

Canada started the final day of competition with a semifinal matchup against the eventual champions, New Zealand, who got a 41-0 win. The Canadians rebounded quickly, delivering a thrilling 21-17 victory over France. Sabrina Poulin’s try in the 11th minute, which was converted by Taylor Perry, put Canada ahead for good.

The team now heads to Singapore for their next SVNS Series stop taking place April 5-6.

The 2018 Pyeongchang gold medalist was in fifth place after the first run with a score of 75.75. Her second attempt was significantly better, with 88.00 points earning her the final spot on the podium. She just edged out compatriot Rachael Karker, who finished fourth with 86.25 points.

The gold medal was won by 22-year-old British athlete Zoe Atkin, who, after falling on her first attempt, recovered brilliantly to beat China’s Fanghui Li. Atkin finished with 93.50 points, half a point ahead of her rival.

In the men’s halfpipe, a Canadian quartet took the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th places. Brendan Mackay led the group in seventh place, followed by Dylan Marineau, Andrew Longino and Noah Bowman.

In the freestyle jumping event held on Sunday, Canadian Alexandre Duchaine came close to winning a medal, finishing just off the podium in fourth place.

That total includes three ice dance teams, two pairs, and one entry each in women’s singles and men’s singles. 

Earning three spots in ice dance, Canada qualified the maximum number of entries possible in a discipline. Two criteria had to be met for that to be achieved at the end of the world championships. Firstly, the second-place finish by Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and the seventh-place finish by Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha added up to less than 13 points. Secondly, Canada’s third entry, Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer, qualified for the free dance, placing them in the top 20 in their world championship debut.

READ: Gilles and Poirier skate to second straight ice dance silver at world championships

“We’re so proud of ourselves!” said Gilles after winning their second straight silver and fourth career world championship medal. “We wanted to be at the top of the podium, so it’s a bit of a disappointment, but we can’t be that disappointed because we skated two wonderful programs. We skated with joy and with our hearts. The Olympic Games are approaching and our eyes will still be on the top step of the podium.”

“We’ve been working on these routines for a year, and everything fell into place and developed just as we wanted it to,” added Poirier. “It’s incredible! We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and can’t wait to build on this momentum going into the Olympic Games.”

Two Canadian pairs will compete at Milano Cortina 2026, thanks to the final placements of Canada’s top two teams at the worlds. Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps finished fifth while Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud finished 11th, adding up to 16 points. Though they collectively came short of the goal of retaining three pairs spots for the Olympic Games, a points total between 14 and 28 got Canada two spots. The third Canadian team in Boston, Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier, finished 16th but their result did not factor into Olympic qualification. 

READ: How Team Canada can qualify for Milano Cortina 2026 

In the women’s event, Madeline Schizas earned a career-best 11th-place finish at the worlds. That was one spot shy of getting Canada the opportunity to qualify a second Olympic spot in the event. In her fifth world championship appearance, Schizas gave one of the best short program performances of her career, putting her in sixth place and the final flight for the free skate. Though she was unable to hold onto a spot in the top 10, she came very close to her personal best score. 

“I’m a little disappointed, but these things happen,” said the three-time Canadian champion. “There was a lot of pressure today and I’m still satisfied with the way I skated.”

“I am generally happy with what I have shown and I am proud to have been able to skate in the last group today,” she added.

In the final event of the world championships, Roman Sadovsky finished 14th in the men’s event. He moved up five spots from his placement last year with a season’s best score in the free skate. 

No Canadian athletes have yet been nominated to those Olympic spots. That won’t happen until after the Canadian National Skating Championships in January 2026. 

Qualification for the Olympic team event will continue through the ISU Grand Prix Series and Final this coming fall. The 10 qualified countries will be announced in December 2025. 

Everything was still to play for heading into the final race, and with his victory the day before, Howden sat in first place in the overall standings, but Italy’s Simone Deromedis also had his sights set on top honours.

By finishing first for the second consecutive day, the British Columbia native made sure to leave no hope to his opponent, who had led the standings for most of the season. The Italian finished third in the race, while France’s Youri Kergomard Duplessis finished second. Canada’s Kristofor Mahler finished just off the podium.

Deromedis finished second overall. Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann, who also had a chance to claim the Crystal Globe before the weekend began, took third place. Another Canadian, Kevin Drury, climbed into the top 10 overall with a seventh-place finish.

This is Reece Howden’s third career globe, following wins in 2021 and 2023.

READ: Howden wins ski cross World Cup gold, Hoffos takes silver

Courtney Hoffos still in silver, India Sherret finishes third overall

In the women’s competition, Courtney Hoffos took the silver medal for the second day in a row. Already assured of the crystal globe, Switzerland’s Fanny Smith took gold, while her compatriot Talina Gantenbein completed the podium.

Despite an injury suffered last week that prevented her from skiing in the final event of the season, Canada’s 
India Sherret finished third overall. Marielle Thompson finished seventh, followed by Hoffos in eighth, and Abby McEwen in ninth.

Skating their free dance to Annie Lennox’s version of “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” the Canadians scored a second-best 130.10 points for a total of 216.45. This is their 12th world championship appearance together. The veteran ice dance team had entered Saturday’s competition in second place and held steady to finish there.

“There was a lot of energy!” said Poirier after their rhythm program. “We enjoyed our program, we had refined it a lot in training and we knew exactly what to do on the ice. […] Last year, we took a big step forward and it was a nice surprise for us. This year our expectations are very high and it’s very exciting!”

Gilles and Poirier finished behind the American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who claimed their third consecutive title on Saturday with 222.06 points. Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson took bronze with 207.11.

Meanwhile, Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha finished seventh overall with a total of 200.41, highlighted by the fifth-best rhythm dance score of 81.77. The third Canadian team in the competition, Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer, made a promising debut, finishing in the top 20 with a score of 170.88.

The combined placement from Canada’s top two teams helped the country retain three provisional ice dance spots for Milan Cortina 2026.

Gilles and Poirier had also finished second behind Chock and Bates at last year’s world championships in Montréal, despite winning the free dance. The four-time Canadian champions, who earned worlds bronze in 2021 and 2023, bested the Americans at last month’s Four Continents Championships in Seoul, setting the stage for their much-anticipated rematch at the worlds this weekend.

On the 10th anniversary of ski cross racing at Idre Fjäll, Reece Howden clinched the gold in the men’s big final. He marks his sixth gold medal of the season and 17th of his career. With this victory, Howden extends his lead in the overall season standings, holding 938 points heading into tomorrow’s final race of the season.

Italy’s Simone Deromedis and Sweden’s Erik Mobaerg won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Deromedis (905 points) is in second place, trailing by just 33 points.

On the women’s side, Courtney Hoffos earned a hard-fought silver medal, finishing just behind Germany’s Daniela Maier, who claimed gold. Switzerland’s Fanny Smith took home the bronze and sealed her victory in the overall World Cup standings, securing the coveted Crystal Globe.

For Hoffos, this marks her fourth World Cup podium of the season to go along with a silver medal from last week’s World Championships. After missing the first two races of the season as she returned from injury, Hoffos’ results have steadily improved, with all four podiums coming in the last two months. 

“It was super tight racing today, especially in the big final,” said a smiling Hoffos. “There was a lot of overtaking, and everyone was racing in a tight group. I had a moment where I saw no one in front of me and I thought that there might be a win but had to settle for second. Fired up for second place and excited to go again tomorrow.”

Abby McEwen, the only other Canadian woman racing in today’s event, finished in 13th place overall. On the men’s side, Nicholas Katrusiak was 16th, Kevin Drury 18th, and Kaleb Barnum, competing in his first World Cup race, wrapped up his debut in 30th place.

The 23-year-old from Sainte-Marie, Quebec won his first senior world championship title in men’s snowboard cross at the 2025 FIS Snowboard World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland on Friday. It is his second time standing on a world championship podium, having won bronze in 2021.

The world title solidifies Grondin’s top status in snowboard cross. The Canadian took the Crystal Globe last year as the number one-ranked athlete in the men’s FIS World Cup standings. He sits comfortably atop this season’s standings with a 141-point lead over his closest competitor, Loan Bozzolo of France. The Crystal Globe will be awarded at the final World Cup event of the season, fittingly taking place on home snow for Grondin, at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, April 4-6.

Grondin was strong out of the start in Engadin, getting out the fastest over the first set of features on the course. He slipped back to third as the two Austrians in the final, Alessandro Haemmerle and Jakob Dusek, worked together to position themselves at the front. But the two Austrians came together a bit too closely, making slight contact on the outer edge of the course, providing Grondin with the opportunity to seize the lead in the final stretch. Bozzolo was also able to take advantage of the opening to snag the silver medal. Haemmerle took bronze, followed by Dusek in fourth.

Grondin was only 16 years old when he made his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018—the second youngest athlete on Team Canada at those Games. At Beijing 2022, Grondin was a double medallist. He took silver in a photo finish in men’s snowboard cross, where he was just barely edged out by Haemmerle, as well as bronze in the first ever mixed team snowboard event with teammate Meryeta O’Dine. O’Dine finished just off the podium in fourth in the women’s snowboard cross in Engadin. That is her career best world championship result.

The mixed team snowboard cross event at the world championships will take place on Saturday.

More than a decade after his only previous world championship appearance, Brad Jacobs will be back holding the broom for Team Canada. One year before he skipped Canada to Olympic gold at Sochi 2014, he won silver at the 2013 World Championship.

Jacobs is skipping a new team this season, joining vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert, who have all been playing together since 2022-23. In December and January, they reached the final in back-to-back Grand Slam of Curling events, finishing as the runners-up at the National and the Masters. 

At the Brier in early March, Team Jacobs were undefeated in pool play. After losing in the page 1v2 qualifier game, they went on to win four straight pressure-packed elimination games to take the Canadian crown. 

READ: Team Jacobs is now Team Canada after victory at 2025 Brier

Although this is their debut season together, the four core members of Team Jacobs each have a great history of winning. 

Kennedy and Hebert will both be making their fifth world championship appearances. For many years, they formed a formidable front end duo. They won Olympic gold together at Vancouver 2010 as well as a couple of world titles in 2008 and 2016. 

Gallant won Olympic bronze with Team Gushue at Beijing 2022, the last season he played with the Newfoundland-based team. His success with them also included a world title in 2017 and world silver medals in 2018 and 2022. This is the first year since 2021 that Team Canada at the World Men’s Curling Championship is not skipped by Brad Gushue. 

Canada has won 36 gold medals all-time at the World Men’s Curling Championship—by far the most of any country—but none since Team Gushue’s triumph in 2017. Canada finished as the runner-up each of the last three years. 

Olympic qualification on the line 

Beyond medals, teams will have their eyes on securing Olympic spots for their countries. 

Seven countries will earn their entry into the men’s curling tournament at Milano Cortina 2026, joining host nation Italy. Points based on the final standings from the 2024 and 2025 World Championships will be added together to determine the first batch of Olympic qualified countries. Which team will become Team Canada for Milano Cortina 2026 will be determined at the Canadian Curling Trials in November 2025. 

Here is how the men’s Olympic qualification rankings stand heading into the 2025 World Championship: 

1- Italy – 11 points (qualified as host nation) 
2- Sweden – 15 points
3 – Canada – 13 points
4 – Scotland (Great Britain) – 10 points
5 – Germany – 9 points
6 – United States – 8 points 
7 – Switzerland – 7 points
8 – Netherlands – 6 points
9 – Czechia – 5 points
10 – Norway – 4 points
11 – Japan – 3 points
12 – South Korea – 2 points
13 – New Zealand – 1 point 

The 13 teams in attendance this year will all play each other in a round robin. The top six teams will advance to the playoffs. There are no tiebreaker games; ties are resolved based on head-to-head results, or if needed, pre-game Last Shot Draw distances.

The top two teams after the round robin advance directly to the semifinals. The third-place team will play the sixth-place team and the fourth-place team will play the fifth-place team in qualification games, with the winners moving on to the semis. The winning teams from those semifinals will play for gold while the two losing teams face off for bronze.

Team Canada’s top challengers

Team Bruce Mouat, representing Scotland, sits first in the world rankings, two spots ahead of Jacobs. Mouat was fourth at last year’s worlds after winning gold in 2023. His team claimed Olympic silver at Beijing 2022. Team Mouat was named as Team Scotland for this year’s world championship despite losing in the final of the Scottish Championships. 

Although Team Niklas Edin of Sweden is further down in the world rankings, they can never be counted out. The definition of a dynasty, they have won five of the last six world titles as well as Olympic gold at Beijing 2022. 

Joël Retornaz became an Italian folk hero during his Olympic debut nearly two decades ago at Turin 2006. Now heading into his 11th worlds, he skipped his team to bronzes at the 2022 and 2024 World Championships, which were the first medals ever for Italy at a curling worlds. 

Team Canada’s Schedule at World Men’s Curling Championship: 

Saturday March 29 – 2:00 p.m. CST / 4:00 p.m EDT – Japan 
Saturday March 29 – 7:00 p.m. CST / 9:00 p.m. EDT – Germany 

Sunday March 30 – 2:00 p.m. CST / 4:00 p.m. EDT – South Korea 

Monday March 31 – 2:00 p.m. CST / 4:00 p.m. EDT – Scotland 

Tuesday April 1 – 9:00 a.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. EDT – Sweden
Tuesday April 1 – 7:00 p.m. CST / 9:00 p.m. EDT – Italy 

Wednesday April 2 – 9:00 a.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. EDT – Norway
Wednesday April 2 – 7:00 p.m. CST / 9:00 p.m. EDT – Czechia 

Thursday April 3 – 9:00 a.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. EDT – China
Thursday April 3 – 7:00 p.m. CST / 9:00 p.m. EDT – Switzerland 

Friday April 4 – 2:00 p.m. CST / 4:00 p.m. EDT – Austria
Friday April 4 – 7:00 p.m. CST / 9:00 p.m. EDT – United States 

Saturday April 5 – 9:00 a.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. EDT – Qualification Playoff*
Saturday April 5 – 3:00 p.m. CST / 5:00 p.m. EDT – Semifinals* 

Sunday April 6 – 9:00 a.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. EDT – Bronze Medal Game*
Sunday April 6 – 3:00 p.m. CST / 5:00 p.m. EDT – Gold Medal Game*

*pending qualification

You can keep track of live scores, standings, and statistics thanks to World Curling. All of Canada’s round robin games and playoff games will be broadcast live on TSN.

Lizanne Murphy is a two-time Olympian who competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games in basketball. She is in the Hofstra University Hall of Fame. From 2005 to 2016, Murphy was instrumental in the resurgence of the women’s national basketball team, helping Canada become one of the best in the world. She was spotted at an open try out by the Team Canada coach, and made the senior national team that would go to the Olympics.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

What has sport meant to you and to your life?

I’m somebody who gets emotional pretty quickly so I don’t say it lightly when I say that sport saved my life. It really did. I come from an amazing family who believed in the importance of sport. My father who is now legally blind was a basketball player, and my mom grew up wishing to take part in sport, but never really having the chance. My parents had three kids. We were all going to be quite tall, all of us now over six feet, and my  mom’s dream was for us to grow up feeling comfortable in our bodies. Both my parents knew they wanted sport to be a part of family life, and pretty quickly had all three kids enrolled in almost all of the sports offered in our city. My dad put up a basketball net in our front yard off the driveway, we played soccer in the back, and did gymnastics all over the house. All of that helped me become one of the best shooters in Canada.

I had an amazing experience at Hofstra University in the NCAA, one that helped me get to the Olympic stage, but it was also very intense and for many reasons unhealthy. When I started playing for Team Canada, I found an environment where I could be myself and pursue excellence with an incredible group of people. I’m someone who brings the energy.  I have an intensity about me and that got me into trouble at times. I was hot and cold, wore my heart on my sleeve and didn’t really know how to foster that. When I got to the national team, I was suddenly celebrated for that same energy, for being the heart and soul and leader of the team. That’s why I say sport saved my life, because I went from this place of total self doubt and unhealthy training methods to realizing I have something the world needs, and a shared common goal to grow women’s basketball in Canada.

You had a long successful career on the national team and played professionally in many countries including as a star in France.  What led you to the COC?

I was ready to go back to France when I got a random e-mail in 2017 asking me if I wanted to be part of the Canada C3 expedition, part of the Canada 150 project.  It was a retired icebreaker ship that sailed around Canada’s three coasts all the way to Victoria in 150 days. I was invited as an athlete. On the ship we had teachers, parents, scientists, Indigenous leaders, and really promising youth doing cool things in their schools. It was a life-changing experience to increase understanding  about reconciliation, community and protection of the environment. In my time from PEI to Newfoundland, we visited First Nations communities, protected parks and learned a lot about the environment on Canada’s East Coast. I hadn’t learned about residential schools before that trip because it wasn’t something we were taught in school.  One of my good friends on the ship was  Marie Wilson, who was one of the three commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  When we visited those communities, I instantly connected to people there because of basketball and many people’s shared love of the game. While off the coast on the Atlantic Ocean, I actually called my agent and said I wasn’t going back to France. It was on that ship I realized there’s more to life and that while basketball has been incredible to me, my heart wasn’t in it to keep performing at the highest level. I’m someone that wants to have an impact. It is maybe the thing that has defined everything I do. I wanted to be back in Canada and to make a difference here.

I was also part of the RBC Olympians program at that time, which connected me to 200 schools in Quebec and around Canada.  I went around getting kids to try basketball and got them to believe in themselves.  I found that work so fulfilling.  It was through one of my RBC Olympians events that I ran into my Game Plan advisor, helping me with my transition out of sport.  She connected me to Eric Myles, Chief of Sport at the COC, and they both said now that you’re home, you should work in sport. We have some jobs available, you should apply. I wasn’t sure, but felt like this was a sign and something I had to explore and that led me here.

Tell us about your role?

I’ve been very fortunate to be promoted through the ranks four times.  I’m now Director of Sports System and Athlete Relations.  It’s part of the System Excellence team within the Sport Department at the Canadian Olympic Committee. We work with National Sport Organizations on improving things like their governance, safe sport, their athlete relations and how the athlete voice is showing up in their organizations.  We also assist them with the pipeline of their leadership, plus their diversity, equity and inclusion.  Since 2013, the COC has invested more than $40 million to help NSOs on these important initiatives.

What did you learn from your basketball career that you bring into your role today, especially with respect to resources, with National Sport Organizations currently facing dire straits and asking for increased federal funding?

My basketball experience taught me a lot.  Winning the gold medal at the Pan American games in Toronto in 2015 was pretty cool. We beat the US for the first time. Looking back at my career, the thing that I’m most proud of is everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve strived to leave it in a better place than when I found it. When I joined the national team in 2005, we were not doing well.  We hadn’t been to an Olympics in years.  There was very little funding.  Our staff had to get very creative to find training opportunities and people to help us get to the world class stage we all believed we belonged on. With very little resourcing, our group fought and qualified for the London 2012 Olympics. When I finished my career, we were fifth in the world and the sport now has increased resources after many challenging years.

This story of under-resourcing is unfortunately very common in sports. I can tell you that national sport organizations are not exaggerating when they say they are struggling.  The budget for these organizations has not gone up in a number of years, even to keep up with inflation.  I think the thing that makes me pretty good at my job is that I have seen it from both a have and have not sport lens. I went from being part of the really hard stuff that happens to sports that have financial constraints to then qualifying for the Olympics and being part of a sport that’s more adequately resourced.  I very quickly learned the realities that national sport organization leaders are facing. In a sports system that is under-resourced, it is impossible to succeed everywhere.  Some organizations are having to make very difficult decisions daily about their staffing, competition schedules or development in order to keep the lights on.

We’re seeing a new era for women’s basketball, hockey and other professional sports.  How do you feel witnessing that now and what still remains to be seen on that front?

I’m not surprised and SO happy. We all know the value and quality of women’s sports and this is a moment in time that will be pivotal for generations to come here in Canada.  When I played professionally in France, we had a sold out arena for almost every game. I feel like it’s about time we have these leagues in Canada as well where women can build incredible legacies right here on home soil. And for that, I am so happy to have transitioned to a fan and parent supporting and taking it all in from the sidelines.