Olympic qualification

Curling at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will comprise three competitions with ten National Olympic Committees in each – women’s, men’s and mixed doubles.

All three curling competitions will be played in the Cortina Olympic Stadium in Cortina D’Ampezzo, a northern Italian town in the Dolomitic Alps.

Italy qualify, for each competition, automatically as the host. If the host country declines its host country place in any event, its place will be reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible —and not already qualified— National Olympic Committee from the Olympic Qualification Event. This process will be repeated until the quota place is filled.

The eight highest ranked National Olympic Committees from a list generated by Olympic Qualification Points earned at the 2024 and 2025 women’s, men’s and mixed doubles world championships will qualify for the Olympic Winter Games. In case hosts of the Olympic Winter Games, Italy, does not finish in the top eight places of the respective discipline, only the seven highest ranked National Olympic Committees will qualify for the Olympic Winter Games through this path.

The Olympic Qualification Points will be awarded according to The Rules of Curling, specifically Rules of Competition, C9. Team Ranking Procedure / Draw Shot Challenge.

Points allocation

Each season points are allocated to the Member Associations ranked from 1-13, in each women’s and men’s world championship, in the following order: 15, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

For the mixed doubles, teams are ranked 1-20, therefore, the points allocation is as follows: 27, 23, 20, 18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Olympic Qualification Event

The final two places in each event are decided at the Olympic Qualification Event (OQE), to be held in December 2025. Eligibility to take part in the OQE is detailed below.

Women’s and men’s competition

The National Olympic Committees ranked 9-13 from the ranking list created from the results at the 2024 and 2025 world championships.

The top three National Olympic Committees from the Pre-Qualification Event to be held in the autumn of 2025.

Mixed doubles competition

Any National Olympic Committee’s mixed doubles team that qualified for the 2024 and 2025 world championship, but did not yet qualify for the Olympic Winter Games through points earned at these championships or by hosting the Olympic Winter Games.

If this results in fewer than 16 teams, then the next highest ranked National Olympic Committee from the ranking list (as of 1 May 2025) will be invited until all 16 places are filled at the OQE.

Pre-Qualification Event

In the women’s and men’s field any National Olympic Committee is eligible to enter this event that qualified for the 2024 or 2025 world championship, but didn’t qualify for the Olympic Winter Games or the OQE. There is no Pre-Qualification Event for mixed doubles curling.

Also, any National Olympic Committee that qualified for the A-Division of the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2024 or 2025 or the A-Division of the Pan Continental Curling Championships 2024 or 2025, but haven’t qualified for the Olympic Winter Games or the OQE yet.

The top three National Olympic Committees will qualify from the Pre-Qualification Event for the OQE.

The full Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 qualification procedure is available here.

WOMEN

	Rank	National Olympic Committee	2024	2025	Olympic Qualification Points
Q	1	Italy **	10	4	14 – Qualified as hosts
Q	2	Canada	15	15	30
Q	3	Switzerland	13	13	26
Q	4	Republic of Korea	11	10	21
Q	5	Sweden	9	9	18
Q	6	Denmark	8	7	15
Q	7	Great Britain (Scotland)*	6	8	14
Q	8	People’s Republic of China	0	11	11
	9	Norway	5	6	11
	10	United States of America	7	2	9
	11	Japan	3	5	8
	12	Türkiye	4	3	7
	13	Estonia	2	0	2
	14	Lithuania	0	1	1
	15	New Zealand	1	0	1

* Points for Great Britain are gained by Scotland at World Women’s Curling Championships.
** Italy as the host of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games are guaranteed qualification.
Q = Qualified for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

MEN

	Rank	National Olympic Committee	2024	2025	Olympic Qualification Points
Q	1	Italy **	11	4	15 – Qualified as hosts
Q	2	Great Britain (Scotland)*	10	15	25
Q	3	Canada	13	11	24
Q	4	Sweden	15	9	24
Q	5	Switzerland	7	13	20
Q	6	Germany	9	6	15
Q	7	Norway	4	8	12
Q	8	Czechia	5	7	12
	9	United States of America	8	3	11
	10	People’s Republic of China	0	10	10
	11	Japan	3	5	8
	12	Netherlands	6	0	6
	13	Republic of Korea	2	1	3
	14	Austria	0	2	2
	15	New Zealand	1	0	1

MIXED DOUBLES

	Rank	National Olympic Committee	2024	2025	Olympic Qualification Points
Q	1	Italy **	13	27	40 – Qualified as hosts
Q	2	Estonia	23	18	41
Q	3	Sweden	27	14	41
Q	4	Great Britain (Scotland)*	15	23	38
Q	5	Norway	20	13	33
Q	6	Canada	16	15	31
Q	7	Switzerland	18	10	28
Q	8	United States of America	11	16	27
	9	Australia	6	20	26
	10	Republic of Korea	14	9	23
	11	Japan	12	8	20
	12	Germany	10	7	17
	13	New Zealand	2	12	14
	14	Denmark	7	6	13
	15	People’s Republic of China	9	4	13
	16	Finland	0	11	11
	17	Czechia	5	5	10
	18	Netherlands	8	2	10
	19	Türkiye	4	3	7
	20	France	3	0	3
	21	Spain	1	1	2

* Points for Great Britain are gained by Scotland at World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
** Italy as the host of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games are guaranteed qualification.
Q = Qualified for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games