Curling Controversy at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics

The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics have been marked by controversy in the curling events, with accusations of cheating leveled against the Canadian team and struggles for the top-ranked Canadian women’s team. Despite the turmoil, Canada still has a chance at gold in the men’s competition.

Cheating Allegations Rock Men’s Curling

The Canadian men’s curling team faced serious accusations of rule-breaking during their 8-6 preliminary round win against Sweden on February 13th. Swedish Team Niklas Edin accused Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs of “double-touching” the stone after release – illegally touching the rock again while it’s in motion.

The accusations led to a heated exchange between Canadian third Marc Kennedy and Swedish third Oskar Eriksson. Kennedy reportedly responded with an expletive-laden outburst, stating, “I haven’t done it once. You can (expletive) off.” Eriksson countered, stating he would show Kennedy a video after the game as reported by Yahoo Sports.

World Curling officials responded by increasing monitoring of the hog line – the boundary before which the thrower must release the stone – for three ends after the initial complaint. The introduction of electronic handles on the stones, designed to flash red if touched after crossing the hog line, was also a factor in the controversy, though the Swedes argued the red light wasn’t triggered due to the nature of the alleged contact according to Reuters.

Women’s Team Faces Challenges and Controversy

The Canadian women’s team, led by Rachel Homan, was upset by Anna Hasselborg’s Sweden in the semifinals on Friday, February 14th, losing 6-3. Sweden, ranked No. 12, will now compete for gold against Switzerland on Sunday.

Adding to the challenges, the Canadian women’s team also faced accusations of double-touching. During their narrow 8-7 loss to Switzerland, Rachel Homan had a stone removed after being called for a rules violation as reported by NBC New York. Homan immediately contested the call, stating she had “never done it in my life.”

The Canadian women attributed some of their struggles to “straighter” ice conditions, which they found made shots more difficult.

Looking Ahead

Despite the setbacks, Canada still has a chance to secure a gold medal in the men’s competition, facing Britain on Saturday. The Canadian women will play the U.S. For the bronze medal on the same day. Switzerland routed Norway 9-1 for the bronze medal in the men’s competition according to USA Today.