in 1997, martin looked to represent canada at the olympics once again. the 1998 winter olympics would mark the first time curling would be an official medal sport at the games. at the 1997 canadian olympic curling trials, martin's rink finished with a 6–3 win-loss record, tied in second place with ed werenich. martin knocked off werenich in the semifinal but lost to the then little known mike harris in the final with a score of 6–5. for the next few years, martin would fail to make it back to the brier. in 1998, martin won his second players' championship of his career, then known as the "apolla world curling tour championship".