KALAMAZOO, Mich. — In five days, the best of the best will hit the curling sheet at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo for the Mixed Doubles National Championship.
The sport has spiked in popularity in the U.S. in recent years, but it took a while to get there.
By many accounts, curling is the second-oldest sport in the world. There's proof of its existence in Scotland dating all the way back to the 16th Century.
Curling didn't make its way onto the international stage until 1988 — its first appearance in the Olympics. The sport was mainly dominated by Sweden and Canada, and for the most part, still is today.
The United States finished dead last in 2010 at the Winter Games in British Columbia. Four years later, the story was virtually the same, finishing second-to-last in Sochi.
However, in 2018, the U.S. pulled off one of the greatest upsets the curling community, and sports world has ever seen, defeating Sweden in the gold medal match.
Two of those gold medalists will be in Kalamazoo for the national championships, along with Delaney Strouse from Midland, Michigan.
The event runs from February 28th through March 5th. The winners will represent the U.S. in the World Championships in April (22-29), competing in South Korea in the same area where the U.S. men's team won gold five years ago.
If you fall in love with the sport like FOX 17's Max Goldwasser and Troy VanWingen did, you can check out the Kalamazoo Curling Club.