GUELPH/ERAMOSA – On Christmas Eve, Riley Sandham and Brendan Craig will be boarding a plane and flying east for a shot at representing Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The curling team, a couple living in Guelph/Eramosa, has qualified for the Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials, taking place in Liverpool, Nova Scotia Dec. 30 to Jan 4.
The trials include 16 qualifying Canadian teams, and the winner has a strong chance of going on to compete at the next Olympic Games.
The winning team will go on to the World Championship, where the top seven national teams will qualify for a place at the Olympics.
“It’s very probable that whoever wins for Canada will do that,” Craig told the Advertiser.
Sandham and Craig’s curling team is currently ranked first in the Canadian 2024/25 season, third in the Canadian Olympic ranking system, and 10th overall in World Curling Mixed Doubles ranking.
The curlers are newlyweds. They tied the knot on Oct. 26.
Their sport is what initially brought Sandham and Craig together, as they met through mutual friends on their curling teams in high school. Now, their shared passion for curling is part of the glue that holds their relationship together.
They officially found out they qualified for the Olympic trials on Dec. 9, though they had a strong feeling they made the cut after their success at a curling championship in B.C. earlier in the season.
“We had a good finish,” Sandham said, and “scored enough points that it felt comfortable.”
Now, flights and accommodations are booked, and the couple has the schedule for the trials in hand.
Curlers Riley Sandham, left, and Brendan Craig are heading to Nova Scotia to participate in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials from Dec. 30 to Jan 4. Photo by Kurtis Oliveira
They’ll be in Nova Scotia on New Year’s Eve, but will still be in the early days of the trials, so plan to hold off on any partying.
“If we win, we’ll party,” Craig said with a chuckle.
He added he hasn’t put a lot of thought into what it will be like if they do qualify for the Olympic games.
“It would be pretty wild,” Sandham said.
She reminisced about being a young curler, when people always talked about the Olympics as the ultimate goal, but one that “never felt realistic until now.”
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Craig said. “First to earn a spot at the Olympics, and then to do anything you can to succeed once you are there.”
Qualifying for the trials is a significant accomplishment, and something Sandham and Craig both worked hard to achieve.
“It feels like we put in so much work over the last two years with off-ice training, practicing,” Sandham said, so “it feels pretty cool” to be officially recognized as having Olympic potential.
Craig said it feels validating that the work they’ve put in is paying off.
“The sacrifices we’ve made, too,” Sandham added.
Those sacrifices include missing out on important events with family and friends because they need to prioritize practice and tournaments, Craig said.
It’s hard sometimes for people to understand why they prioritize curling over other parts of their lives, Craig said, but their family and friends are all very supportive of them.
Sandham and Craig’s parents, as well as some of their siblings, will be in Liverpool to support them during the trials.
Brendan Craig, left and Riley Sandham make up one of 16 teams that qualified for the Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials. Photo by Kurtis Oliveira
Sandham’s brother lives in Nova Scotia, less than two hours away from Liverpool, so her family is heading there to celebrate Christmas together before the competition kicks off.
Sandham and Craig also spoke with the Advertiser in March, before heading to Fredericton, New Brunswick to compete in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
They achieved their goal of making the playoff round at the championship, but lost the first playoff game in the extra end, to the team that eventually won the bronze medal.
Sandham said the team is “in a good spot for nationals this year in March” 2025, too.
So however things go at the Olympic trials, they’ll have the national championship to look forward to and train for.
Curling runs deep through Sandham’s family history – her dad Ken Sandham is an accomplished coach, and her grandmother and great aunts and uncles were also curlers.
Until recently, Sandham’s dad was the team’s coach, but they are now coached by former Canadian champion Wayne Tuck.
Sandham said when she told her dad they’d be heading to the Olympic trials, he was initially in disbelief, even after Curling Canada had booked their flights.
Curling Canada covers the cost of the couple’s flights, but not other expenses such as accommodations, rental car and equipment.
To help Sandham and Craig travel to Nova Scotia for the Olympic trials, visit their team facebook page.
