The calendar still says August, but the curling tour is heating up.
Wait, this is a winter sport, right? Don’t worry, there’s plenty of curling going on during the winter months between playdowns, national and world championships, plus Rock League returning for Season 2 in January.
Besides, it’s not like all teams are hitting the ice every weekend from now until Christmas. As Brad Jacobs wrote in a recent Instagram story: "If you're curling right now, you need to get your priorities straight!" Who are we to doubt a two-time Olympic gold medallist?
FIRST END: We can debate the merits of summer curling all we want, but the tour waits for no one, and multiple Team Schwallers (yes, all of them) are off to strong starts.
Let’s start with Yannick Schwaller, whose Swiss squad has already won titles at the Baden Masters and Euro Super Series over consecutive weekends. That's back-to-back, like on the cover of Lethal Weapon.
Looking at the bigger picture, Schwaller sits roughly nine-and-a-half points behind No. 1 Bruce Mouat in the world rankings — but not for long. Mouat has held the top spot in the men’s division for over two years, however, Schwaller is on track to overtake him for the first time.
The ranking calculations switch on Sept. 15, from counting one event from this season plus 100 per cent of last season's points to two events from this season plus 75 per cent of last season's points. Team Mouat made its season debut at the Euro Super Series and missed the playoffs, earning only a handful of points. Mouat is now idle until the Grand Slam of Curling's CO-OP Invitational in mid-October.
Here's how the rankings look right now ...
| Team | 100% from 2025-2026 | One event from 2026-27 | Total |
| Mouat | 465.850 | 4.950 | 470.800 |
| Schwaller | 411.850 | 49.500 | 461.350 |
... and here's how they could end up looking on Sept. 15.
| Team | 75% from 2025-2026 | Two events from 2026-27 | Total |
| Mouat | 349.388 | 4.950 | 354.338 |
| Schwaller | 308.888 | 96.750 | 405.638 |
It might not seem like a big deal since there’s no bonus prize for being world No. 1, but one thing is that it could land a more favourable pool in Grand Slam of Curling events that use the rankings for pool grouping. Also, bragging rights.
SECOND END: Another Schwaller was competing in the Euro Super Series men's division: Kim Schwaller, whose team qualified for the quarterfinals.
You may remember Kim from the 2024 National in St. John’s, N.L., when he filled in on his older brother's team while Yannick was recovering from knee surgery.
The younger Schwaller (2-2 in the preliminary round) squeezed past contenders like Mouat and Team Eriksson (playing as three without skip Oskar Eriksson) for one of the final playoff spots before losing to Stefano Spiller's team in the quarterfinals.
Although we were denied a Schwaller vs. Schwaller matchup in the playoffs, the teams were on opposite sides of the bracket, so they would only have met in the final. An all-Schwaller final? Hey, it could happen one day.
THIRD END: Now over to the Euro Super Series women’s division and cousin Xenia Schwaller, whose club looked every bit like the reigning world champion until running into compatriot Alina Pätz and her all-new team in the final.
Schwaller fell 8-5, but it was the lone loss of the week for her team, which won four straight games in the preliminary stage to earn a bye to the semis and rolled right past Fay Henderson 7-2 to advance to the final.
Remember, Schwaller got out to a scorching start last season, winning two of three events at the Oslo Cup and AMJ Shorty Jenkins Classic.
It’s a Schwaller world; we’re just living in it. Now wait until Zoe Schwaller starts making noise on tour.
FOURTH END: An impressive performance for Pätz, who was not only competing in her first event with a new team but also in a new role, returning to calling the shots after skip Silvana Tirinzoni stepped back from the sport.
Although Selina Witschonke stayed on board, she's also in a new position, moving from lead to third. Stefanie Berset, who served as Team Tirinzoni’s alternate and played with skip Corrie Hürlimann, is now at second. Newcomer Renée Frigo is at lead.
Pätz lost just once in the Euro Super Series to Giulia Zardini Lacedelli in a shootout during the preliminary stage, but avenged that defeat with a 6-3 victory in the rematch during the semis.
The final also served as what should be the first of many matchups between Schwaller and Pätz that we will see this season and over the course of the Olympic cycle.
FIFTH END: What happened with Mouat? The three-time defending champ, who also entered with an 18-game winning streak on home ice in Stirling, missed the playoffs altogether with a 2-2 record.
No need to hit the panic switch. It was Mouat’s first event of the season, and with new third Robin Brydone.
As mentioned above, Mouat’s next scheduled tournament is the CO-OP Invitational — seven weeks away. That’s a long layoff between first and second events.
Meanwhile, former Team Mouat third Grant Hardie, now skipping Ross Whyte’s crew, looked sharp as his club reached the final, losing 8-2 to Schwaller. Don’t let the linescore fool you. There were a few bad breaks in the first and fifth that led to big ends and put the game out of reach early.
SIXTH END: We said in our Euro Super Series preview that Joël Retornaz had a pretty tough preliminary draw. I guess he took that personally?
Retornaz and his all-new team did just fine, going 3-1 to qualify for the playoffs before falling in an extra-end to Orrin Carson during the quarterfinals. This came after Retornaz reached the final in Baden.
Although Retornaz was denied a CO-OP Invitational invite this time, the four-time Grand Slam champ will get another shot to qualify in a few weeks at the AMJ Shorty Jenkins Classic. Retornaz is also registered to compete in the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, which will qualify a team for the GSOC Open in December.
Meanwhile, fellow Italian Stefano Spiller made it to the semifinals for the second week in a row.
Keep an eye on Team Carson as well. Carson had a strong run overall, holding his ground twice against Yannick Schwaller, whose team had to come from behind in the eighth end both times during the preliminary round and again in the semifinals.
SEVENTH END: The anticipated matchup between former teammates Giulia Zardini Lacedelli and Stefania Constantini didn’t go as planned. For one, Constantini was absent for the event, with her team playing as three. That led to a 7-2 victory for Zardini Lacedelli, who went on to reach the semifinals and earn a ticket to the CO-OP Invitational as the Satellite Events series qualifier.
Team Constantini missed the playoffs at 1-3, but we'll just have to wait and see what they're capable of when their skip actually plays.
EIGHTH END: Did you know Satellite Events also count toward the GSOC Players' Cup? Well, you would if you read last week’s Eight Ends, but as a quick refresher, qualification for the GSOC season finale will consist of points accumulated from the Grand Slams and Satellite Events.
That’s right, teams that qualified for the playoffs at the Euro Super Series were awarded points in their quest to qualify for the GSOC Players' Cup.
You can see the breakdown of points here, but just for fun, let's take a look at a way-too-early GSOC Players' Cup-date.
Men's Division
| Ranking | Team | Points |
| 1. | Y. Schwaller | 20 |
| 2. | Hardie | 14 |
| T-3. | Spiller | 9 |
| T-3. | Carson | 9 |
| T-5. | Retornaz | 5 |
| T-5. | K. Schwaller | 5 |
Women's Division
| Ranking | Team | Points |
| 1. | Pätz | 20 |
| 2. | X. Schwaller | 14 |
| T-3. | Zardini Lacedelli | 9 |
| T-3. | Henderson | 9 |
| T-5. | Wranå | 5 |
| T-5. | Hürlimann | 5 |
Did we mention it's early?
