Last-rock victory keeps Canadian playoff hopes alive in women’s curling

After three hours of back-and-forth opportunities, momentum switches, and highlight reel hits and misses, it was a simple routine takeout by Rachel Homan that propelled Canada back into the thick of the battle for playoff spots at Milano Cortina 2026.

The last-rock, tenth-end takeout produced a two-point end and an 8-6 win over previously unbeaten Anna Hasselborg of Sweden in the women’s curling competition. The win was Canada’s third straight and improved the team’s record to 4-3 and a tie for fourth place with South Korea (Gim Eun-ji).

The top four teams at the conclusion of Thursday’s ten-team round robin advance to the semifinals. Tuesday morning’s results left Sweden at 6-1, Switzerland (Silvana Tirinzoni) and the United States (Tabitha Peterson) second at 5-2 followed by Canada and South Korea (4-3). Sweden is the only team to have officially qualified for the playoffs.

Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes will play Stefania Constantini of Italy (2-5) Wednesday evening and finish the round robin against the Koreans Thursday afternoon.

If there is a two-way tie in the standings, the head-to-head result will determine the winner. If there are more than two teams involved the last rock draw results will be used.

Two costly late-end misses by Hasselborg and another highlight triple by Homan swung the game in Canada’s favour.

Homan’s career is sparkled with eye-popping double and triple take-outs and she produced another highlight one in the eighth end.

Skips aren’t often called upon to set guards and when Hasselborg needed one in the eighth, she was off a few inches and that was all Canada needed. Given the extra room, Homan executed a tough triple take-out to clear the house of Swedish rocks and leave Canada sitting two at the back of the house.

“It was a huge moment for us to lie two and flip that end,” said Homan. “I wasn’t quite sold (the shot) was there. It looked tough to me, but the girls had belief and we swept it awesome. Had a great line call. A big team shot, a big change in the game.”

Hasselborg had no option but to leave Homan a last-rock draw for two and a 6-5 lead.

In the ninth, Sweden had a chance for two but Hasselborg’s final stone rolled too far on a hit-and-stick and she had to settle for a single. That gave Canada hammer in the final end and they used it to produce the critical victory.

The two skips put on a show of hitting in the fifth end, exchanging double take-outs that ended with Sweden scoring three to take 4-3 lead. Hasselborg and teammates could only manage three other singles when they had last rock. Canada scored deuces with their hammer in the second, eighth and tenth ends and had singles in the fourth and sixth.

Homan and Hasselborg have been battling on the world scene for years with Homan, thanks largely to the last two seasons, holding a 23-13 edge in victories. The Canadian team has now won 12 of their last 13 games against Sweden.

The other afternoon games saw the U.S beat Denmark (Madeleine Dupont) 10-3, Switzerland beat South Korea 7-5 and Italy beat Japan (Sayaka Yoshimura) 8-6.