US Curling 2013 Men's Team: Trials Winner Not Guaranteed Spot in Olympics

Unlike the majority of athletes competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials, the men's curlers do not have a spot on Team USA waiting for them. 

Whichever of the five men's curling teams emerges victorious in the Trials on Nov. 10-17 at the Scheels Arena in Fargo, N.D. will have to travel to Fussen, Germany, from Dec. 11 to Dec. 15 to compete with other nations for the final two remaining Olympic spots. 

Men's curlers Colin Hufman and Craig Brown had this colorful way of reminding everyone when the Curling Trials would be: 

The men will stand a good chance of succeeding at booking a trip to Sochi. 

Eight nations have already qualified. Russia, being the host nation, gets an automatic birth. The other teams are the top seven from the combined results of the past two World Championships.

In those combined results, the Americans were eighth. So close, yet so far—like a trip to Germany far, in this case. 

While a bronze by the men's curlers in 2006 remains the Americans' only Olympic medal in men's curling, missing out on the Olympics altogether would be a definite step backward for Team USA. 

The American men have competed in curling in each Olympics since the sport was brought back to the Olympics in Nagano in 1998. Our neighbors to the north, Canada for the geographically challenged, are the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists. 

The American curlers that did win the bronze were skipped by Pete Fenson. He is back with another team for these qualifications. 

However, he did not skip the defending American Olympic representative in Vancouver in 2010. That honor belongs to John Shuster. Shuster was actually a part of the medal-winning team in 2006, and he will be attempting to skip his way to another Olympic trip.  

As Greg Bates of TeamUSA.org reports, the teams of those two accomplished curlers are joined by Team Brady Clark, Team Tyler George and Team Heath McCormick. Curling can be a bit unpredictable, so it would not be a surprise at all if Fenson and Shuster both were defeated. 

This competition should be tight and tense through the round-robin play and the best-of-three final round. In the end, that will serve whichever team survives well. The experience of performing in a pressure environment will only boost their chances of succeeding in Germany.