The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony may be two days away, but the first event happens today with Mixed Doubles Curling. There’s only one curling venue and three disciplines to work through (Mixed Doubles, Women and Men) so they do their best to squeeze things in.
I figured this is as good a time to show two new curling cards I’ve acquired, plus an overview of my curling card collection as well.
The two new cards are from the 2018 Topps Olympics and Paralympics Hopefuls sets and both are for John Shuster, who won Gold for the US in those 2018 games. I’ve been waiting eight years for these cards to pop up relatively cheap, but got tired of waiting so I spent a bit more than I wanted to. It’s really not a tremendously attractive card (or set), but I pick up curling cards when I can.
Topps screwed up on this next one; it’s supposed to be Shuster but it’s actually Joe Polo, who was the alternate on that 2018 Gold Medal team. Whoopsie.
So these two cards brings my curling collection up to 19 card and three pieces of trading card-adjacent ephemera.
I’ve got this 1932 Sanella Margarine piece which is on thin paper and meant to be pasted into an album…
A 1977-79 Sportscasters card for the sport of curling…
The two cards above and 17 cards and one sticker which are in standard-sized pages.
For anyone who might be interested, the 2026 Topps Chrome Olympics and Paralympics Hopefuls set has three base cards related to Curling, Two are for John Shuster (Cards #10 and #110) and one for wheelchair curler Batoyun “Oyuna” Uranchimeg (card #181). There are also some inserts, including Shuster autographs such as a Shuster card done in the style (more or less) of 1986 Topps Football.
Unfortunately, John Shuster falls into the “Hopefuls” category as Team Shuster did not qualify for the Olympics. We’ll be rooting on Team Casper instead.
The Shlabotnik Report 
Didn’t realize it started today. I’ll be watching tomorrow.
Had no idea the Winter Olympics were starting. Local sports radio has only focused on the Super Bowl and the possibility of the Warriors landing Giannis. And even when I flip to the ESPN site, I haven’t seen anything about the Olympics outside of a few injury stories.
I’ll probably check out some of the highlights like snowboarding and hockey, but it’ll be after the big game on Sunday. Good luck to Team Casper.