Team Homan to play for Olympic bronze medal in women’s curling

Anna Hasselborg and Team Sweden scored two in the sixth end and stole one in the seventh to beat Rachel Homan and Team Canada 6-3 in women’s curling semifinals Friday morning at Milano Cortina 2026.

Canada will take on Tabitha Peterson of United States for the bronze medal on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. ET. Sweden will play Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in Sunday’s gold medal game (5:00 a.m. ET) after the Swiss team scored deuces in the second, fourth and tenth ends to beat the U.S. 7-4 in the other semifinal.

Sweden finished atop the round robin standings at 7-2 with Canada second at 6-3 after starting at 1-3.

“It was a battle,” said Canadian second Emma Miskew. “It was a grind out there. They played well and we sort of struggled to get our rocks into the perfect spot to get a multiple. They were on us, cracked a multiple on us and we really couldn’t catch up.

“We would have been pretty happy at the start of the week getting a chance at a bronze medal, so we’ll come back tomorrow and try to be sharp.”

There were no surprises either team could present, having played each other numerous times over the years. But the 2018 gold medal-winning team from Sweden, as it has done all week, played aggressively, putting stones in the house early and forcing Canada to spend much of the game chasing.

Homan, the 36-year-old seeking a medal in her third trip to the Olympics, had been the major player in getting Canada to the semifinals. But faced constantly with difficult shots like angle raises and draws through narrow ports, the mother of three finally ran out of magic.

Through the years Homan had noticeably held the upper hand against her Swedish rival, having won 24 of their previous 39 meetings. Homan had won 12 of the last 13 head-to-heads, including an 8-6 win in the round robin.

Team Homan came into the Olympics as the pre-tournament favourite after dominating the women’s curling circuit the last two seasons, with a 67-7 record against the best teams in the world.

On Friday, however, Homan, third Tracy Fleury, Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes had not enough responses to the methodical Swedish shot-making and stone positioning.

Canada could never find the one shot or get the one break it needed to score more than singles in the second, fourth and eighth ends. Sweden also couldn’t find a crack until the sixth end. Four half shots by Homan and Fleury, one an angle raise double take-out attempt, opened the door for Hasselborg to make a last-stone hit and stick to produce the game’s only two-ender.

Another unsuccessful angle raise take-out try, this one by Homan, and a soft tap back of her own stone by Hasselborg resulted in a steal of one in the seventh.

Canada had a chance to open the game on a positive note in the first end when Fleury buried her first draw behind guards. But Homan was light, then heavy with her attempts to follow Fleury’s path. Hasselborg, with last rock, made a soft tap back to score one.

Homan redeemed herself in the second with a last-rock draw against three hidden Swedish stones. With six guards out front – four of them Canadian stones – Homan had the right weight and Fleury made the correct line call to guide the rock through a narrow port to the button.

The teams traded singles in the third and forth and Sweden blanked the fifth before taking control of the game in the sixth and seventh ends.