Rocks Across the Pond

So nice, they did it twice. Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Canada’s Brad Jacobs both picked up their second Olympic gold medals in Cortina. We review the end of the Olympic tournament, look ahead to the Paralympics and wonder: Who won the quad? Who might retire? Can we shoehorn even more curling into the Olympics? Get our book, Welcome to Curling! Our full Welcome to Curling podcast series Oyuna Uranchimeg’s journey to Team USA Team GB’s Stewart Pimblett is growing the game Poļina Rožkova helped get Latvia into the Paralympics

The curling kerfuffle between Sweden and Canada has us wondering if it’s time to completely revamp the rulebook and the way curling is officiated. Plus: Is a Rachel Homan gold medal still inevitable? (One of us is still convinced it is.) What is happening to Bruce Mouat? Is Draw Shot Challenge going to decide another playoff spot? Get our book, Welcome to Curling!: The Rocks Across the Pond Guide to the Roaring Game Check out our Welcome to Curling podcast series for newcomers

The Korean has had a tumultuous eight years since “The Garlic Girls” burst on the scene to win silver at the 2018 Olympics. Despite this, women’s curling in Korea as flourished and four teams are in the Top 15 of the world rankings. Melvin Lee, a curling consultant and president of the Korean Canadian Curling Federation, tells us how things have improved for the Korean Curling Federation and the prospects for Team Gim, currently third in the world rankings, at the upcoming Olympics in Italy. Our ebook: Welcome to Curling!: The Rock Across the Pond Guide to the Roaring Game Our original Welcome to Curling series (2022) The Remarkable Return of Korea’s Team Kim (2020) Korea’s Team Kim makes triumphant Olympic return (2022) Curling DEI initiatives in action with Melvin Lee (2023)

Don’t be intimidated by the length of this episode. It’s a supercut of four of the shows from our Welcome to Curling series. We have also taken that series and turned it into an ebook! It’s perfect for those getting into curling for the first time during the 2026 Olympics or need a refresher from four years ago. We are excited to share our love for this great game with all of the new curling fans. Times – (2:20): Rules and how the game is played; (52:58): Jargon and what you’ll hear during the game; (1:39:42): Strategy, tactics and what you’ll see during the game; (2:29:51): How you can start curling Get our Welcome to Curling book on Amazon

Jonathan and Ryan are back! We discuss a book project that will be available soon, our first thoughts on the Olympic field and the recently released lineups for the inaugural edition of The Rock League.

Some big changes could be on the horizon for the Men’s and Women’s World Curling Championships. We look at the arguments for and against a larger field with pool play.

Despite not having any dedicated curling ice in the entire country and very little funding, Lithuania is heading to the 2025 World Women’s Curling Championship. How did a country about the size of West Virginia with a population less than Mississippi accomplish this? A lot of it has to do with their skip, Virginija Paulauskaite. The president of the Lithuanian curling federation, Tadas Vyskupaitis, joins us to tell us about his country, how their national team was able to qualify for worlds and the future of curling there.

Jonathan’s Minnesota Golden Gophers and Ryan’s Virginia Tech Hokies are finally going to meet on the gridiron. If you can get through 15 minutes of Gopher-Hokie talk, we will also cover Jonathan’s experience at the 2024 European Curling Championship, what under-the-radar player impressed him most, our futures in curling and Christmas presents.

The 2024 European Curling Championships take place Nov. 16-23 and our very own Professor of Peel, Jonathan Havercroft, will be there in the A division representing England. Here we take a moment to wish Jonathan and the rest of the team good luck!

Curling nations will earn points toward Olympic qualification based on how they do at this year’s (and next year’s) men’s and women’s world championships. But should that be the case? Scottish curling champion Ken Horton presents his plan for determining Olympic berths without any points coming from worlds. Hear why he believes this plan will benefit not only the high-performance teams battling for Olympic spots, but even more so the grassroots and competitive club curlers.