The first day of competition for the 2025 Men’s and Women’s National Championships is here. Crews worked to put five sheets of ice in the DECC Arena.

Opening ceremonies took place at 5:45pm at the DECC.

There are several Duluth curlers competing and they are excited to have the support of the hometown crowd.

One women’s team is all from Duluth! They are Team Benson, which include Skip Courtney Benson, Vice-Skip Aileen Geving, Second Lexi Daly, and Lead Sara Olson.

Their jackets have the lift bridge on them, and were inspired by a photo taken by Laura Andrews. Her son plays on Team Shuster.

Team Peterson, which are defending champions, includes Vice-Skip Cory Thiesse, from Duluth.

She’ll be curling against her cousin, Sara Olson, who is on Team Benson.

Team Shuster is the defending men’s champions.

Others from Duluth include Korey Dropkin, skip of Team Dropkin, and Jake Zeman, who plays second for Team Sampson.

The competition goes through next Sunday, February 2nd. You can get tickets at the box office, or watch online as well.