At the 2026 Winter Games, ten teams in each discipline qualify to compete in Olympic curling events, meaning 30 teams consisting of 10 men's, women's and mixed doubles curling teams will have a chance to compete at Milan Cortina.

Each curling season, points are allocated by World Curling, the national governing body of the sport. The eight highest-ranked National Olympic Committees in each discipline, based on Olympic qualification points earned in events from 2024-2025, automatically will qualify for the Winter Olympics. 

The teams with points ranked from No. 9 to No. 13 by OQPs in the men's and women's competitions, along with the top-three National Olympic Committees from the Pre-Olympic Qualification Event (in fall 2025), will compete in the Olympic Qualification Event to determine the final two slots in each discipline for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

In mixed doubles, any team that qualified for the 2024 or 2025 World Championships that did not yet qualify can compete at the Olympic qualification event. If there are fewer than 16 teams eligible to compete, the next highest teams selection from the world ranking list are invited until all slots are filled.

Before the OQE, the following teams have qualified for curling at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics:

Men's curling

• Italy (host)
• Great Britain (Scotland)
• Canada
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Germany
• Norway
• Czechia

Women's curling

• Italy (host)
• Canada
• Switzerland
• Republic of Korea
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Great Britain (Scotland)
• People's Republic of China

Mixed Doubles

• Italy (host)
• Estonia
• Sweden
• Great Britain (Scotland)
• Norway
• Canada
• Switzerland
• United States of America

Instead of an Olympic curling qualification period, qualifying for the Winter Olympics is based on two events:

• Results from the two previous curling world championships (In this case, the 2024 and 2025 World Championships)
• The Olympic Qualification Event, which will be held from Dec. 6-19, 2025, for all disciplines

Italy, the host country, automatically qualifies for each competition as the host, unless it declines its host country qualification in any of the three events. If Italy does not finish in the top-eight qualifiers in any of the disciplines, then only the top-seven teams ranked by qualification points earn an automatic bid.

Per World Curling regulations, if two teams are tied in Olympic qualification points, the team with better World Curling Championships results in the latter year is the preferred team.

For example, in the current rankings for the women's competition by OQPs, Norway and the China are tied with 11 points from the last two world championships. However, China earned all 11 points by finishing fourth at the 2025 Curling World Championships, while Norway only earned six (five points in 2024). Therefore, China earned the last automatic qualifier in the National Olympic Committee rankings. Norway will have to earn its slot in the qualification event in December despite tying China in points.

After winning the mixed doubles title at the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials in February, Americans Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse earned the final automatic qualifier slot for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games with a fifth-place finish at the 2025 Curling World Championships. The strong performance at worlds earned the U.S. 16 OQPs.

Because of another team's 10th-place finish at the 2024 World Championships, the U.S. earned a total of 27 OQPs to be slotted one point ahead of Australia and secure the No. 8 spot. Previously, Dropkin and Thiesse earned a world title back in 2023, which is outside the 2026 Winter Olympics qualification period.

Despite the notoriety of the 2018 U.S. men's curling team led by John Shuster, the Americans have their work cut out for them to qualify in 2026. The U.S. men missed the mark at the 2025 World Championships, falling one point short of Norway and Czechia. The U.S. women's team ranks No. 10 in the OQP rankings, two points shy of an automatic qualifier.

Ranking inside the No. 9-13 of the OQP list, both the U.S. men and women must be among the top-two teams in their respective discipline to emerge from the Olympic Qualification Event in December 2025. Additionally, a U.S. men's and women's team must emerge victorious from the U.S. Olympic Team Trials to compete at the OQE.

Four U.S. teams are set to compete for the men's curling Olympic Trials berth; so far, three teams have qualified in each discipline. Among the men's teams is Team Shuster, led by the skip who is seeking to become a six-time Olympian by qualifying for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. Recently, John Landsteiner, Shuster's longest-serving teammate, announced his departure from professional curling, leaving Matt Hamilton as Shuster's only teammate from the 2018 PyeongChang gold-medal effort.

Shuster will be up against notable opponents at the U.S. Team Trials. Team Dropkin, led by mixed doubles qualifier Dropkin, has lost to Shuster two times previously during Team Trials, but Dropkin's team enters as the reigning U.S. national champions. Also qualifying is Team Casper (led by skipper Daniel Casper), an up-and-coming team that finished runner-up at nationals.

On the women's side, Team Peterson most likely will qualify for the OQE, led by skipper Tabitha Peterson and mixed doubles qualifier Thiesse. Other teams competing at the U.S. Team Trials include Team Cousins and Team Strouse.

For the Americans, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for men's and women's curling will take place from Nov. 11-16, 2025, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The Pre-Olympic Qualification Event will take place from Oct. 7-11, 2025, in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The Olympic Qualification event will take place for all disciplines on Dec. 6-19, 2025, in Kelowna, Canada.