Road to the Olympic Games: 4 things to watch this weekend
Curling, gymnastics, speed skating, and figure skating on tap
Hosted by veteran broadcasters Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo, Road to the Olympic Games will chronicle athletes' journeys on and off the field of play. Here's what we can expect to see and when we can expect to see it:
Grand Slam curling rocks Truro, Nova Scotia
The Grand Slam curling season begins on CBC with the Masters invading the Maritimes. It features one of the strongest fields in the history of the sport.
On the men's side, five former world champions are in the mix including reigning champion Niklas Edin of Sweden. Factor in Canadians Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue -- who have both been Olympic champions -- and the depth of competition may be unrivalled.
For the women, the 2014 Olympic champion, Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, heads a strong lineup of rinks which also includes former world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland.
WATCH: Men's quarter-finals on Saturday @ 12 p.m. ET; Men's final, Sunday @ 12 p.m. ET
Commentators: Mark Lee, Olympic champion Joan McCusker, Olympic silver medalist Mike Harris, Olympic champion Kevin Martin
Gymnast Ellie Black shines in Scotland
She is arguably the greatest Canadian female gymnast of all-time and now she's trying to vault into the record books at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Halifax's Ellie Black, 20, has already led the Canadian women to full Olympic qualification for Rio de Janeiro next summer.
Beyond that, she's improved on her landmark ninth-place finish in the all-around competition at the last world championships in Nanning, China with a seventh-place result in Glasgow. No Canadian women has won an all-around medal at the worlds' or Olympics and only one, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, who won balance beam bronze at the 2006 world championships in Aarhus, Denmark, has ever been on the podium.
Black has also qualified for the balance beam final in Glasgow and is the reigning Pan American and Commonwealth Games champion in that discipline. She has a chance to make history this weekend on the Road to the Olympic Games.
WATCH: Saturday @ 3 p.m. ET
Commentators: Brenda Irving, Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt
World Cup short track speed skating hits the ice in Montreal
The rockets of short track speed skating begin their season in earnest at the Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal. Few sports have produced as much Olympic success for Canada as this one. Since it made its debut at the Games in 1992 in Albertville, France, 28 short track speed skating medals have been won by maple leaf men and women.
But in Sochi, there was disappointment as only three Canadian medals came out of Russian ice. And the last worlds in Moscow produced only two podium finishes for Canada, both belonging to Charles Hamelin.
Hamelin, a three-time Olympic champion, is now 31-years-old and hoping for a bounce-back season along with his fiancé Marianne St. Gelais who leads a young and rebuilding Canadian team.
WATCH: Saturday 5 p.m. ET, Sunday 3 p.m. ET
Commentators: Scott Russell, two-time Olympic champion Catriona Le May Doan
Patrick Chan begins comeback at Skate Canada
It may be one of the most difficult things to do in sport in the modern age, but figure skater Patrick Chan attempts a return to elite competition after a year's absence in Lethbridge, Alta. at Skate Canada International.
Chan is a three-time world champion and won two silver medals at the Olympic in Sochi. One of the most talented skaters in a generation, Chan is 24 and has indicated he'll chase the Olympic title in South Korea in 2018.
A successful comeback in men's figure skating is not without precedent. Russia's Evgeni Plushenko has done it twice. He returned after a two-year absence to take Olympic silver in 2010 and after another prolonged break to help Russia claim the inaugural team gold at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
In Lethbridge, Chan will go head-to-head with the reigning Canadian champion, 17-year-old Nam Nguyen. The 2014 World Junior champion finished a strong fifth at the world championships this past March in Shanghai.
WATCH: Pj Kwong will providing us with updates from Lethbridge.