2022 Grand Slam of Curling cancelled due to concerns of rising COVID-19 cases

Team Gushue skip, Brad Gushue watches path of his rock during men's final of the 2021 Canadian Olympic curling trials against Team Jacobs, in Saskatoon, Sask., Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021 (The Canadian Press/Rick Elvin).

Due to concerns of rising COVID-19 cases across the country, organizers of the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling cancelled the event supposed to be held in Camrose, Alta.

Slated for Jan. 11 to 16, the curling tournament was to host professional Canadian and international teams, including Sweden's Team Edin, Russia's Team Kovaleva, Scotland's Team Whyte, and Switzerland's Team Tirinzoni.

"While disappointing, this decision was made to continue the pursuit of our top priority — the health and safety of the players, volunteers, fans, employees and partners," the curling tournament said in a statement.

"We thank the passionate curling community of Camrose for their ongoing support of the Grand Slam series, and we look forward to working with their dedicated local organizing committee to bring the world's best curlers to Camrose next season."

Event organizers say they will be reaching out to affected ticket holders directly in the days to come with refund procedures.

The announcement comes on the heels of news of Canada's Olympic mixed doubles curling trials being cancelled on Sunday.

The 16-rink trials to determine Canada's mixed doubles team for February's Winter Olympics was scheduled to begin Tuesday in Manitoba.

"Unlike the Calgary bubble, which had months of preparation time and allowed athletes to self-isolate at home, and get tests done prior to their departure for the events, the dramatic rise in positive cases related to the sudden emergence of the Omicron variant across Canada in the past week made those safety precautions impossible to carry out," Curling Canada said in a statement.

As of publication, the Players' Championship in April 2022 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto and the Champions Cup in May 2022 at the Olds Sportsplex are still expected to proceed.