It’s amazing what having someone believe in you can lead to.
For Canada’s Rachel Homan, that was the difference in trying an all-or-nothing shot against Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg on Tuesday at the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
Down 5-4 in the eighth end and needing a victory to control their own destiny to make the playoffs, Canada was in trouble.
Specifically, Homan was, as it was her turn to throw.
Hasselborg had two stones deadlocked together at the top of the four-foot and another just to the left in the back eight-foot. Being forced to one was the last thing Homan and her teammates Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes wanted.
But the skipper, who is known for her big weight takeouts, didn’t think there was anything there to remove all three stones.
“(We) just had to sell it a little bit,” Wilkes told CBC Olympics after the game.
Well, sure enough, their sales tactic got the job done and Homan finally came around to the idea. She threw a bullet to clear all three stones and eventually drew for two to take the lead 6-5.
“I thought it was pretty tough, they sold it to me, obviously it was there,” Homan told CBC Olympics after beating the last remaining undefeated team to improve to 4-3.
“The belief that they have in me, that’s how we make our big shots. Phenomenal sweeping and they think I can make everything. It was just a great team shot, great line call, really precise and made the difference in that game.”
With the win, Team Canada is now rolling as they have a three-game winning streak, and the team is in a much better place to make the playoffs.
“I think the last couple games things are really starting to come together for us, we know our next two games are against really tough opponents and we just have to keep doing what we’re doing and focus on that and the outcome will be what it will be,” said Wilkes.
That’s why, in what is probably the shot of the Olympics so far, Homan didn’t even crack a smile. She’s laser-focused on one thing: having a gold medal around her neck on Sunday.
Women’s results from Tuesday, Feb 17. (Full scores and standings)
Draw 9
Canada 8, Sweden 6
Italy 8, Japan 6
U.S. 10, Denmark 3
Switzerland 7, South Korea 5
Men’s results from Tuesday, Feb 17. (Full scores and standings)
Draw 9
Switzerland 9, Sweden 4
China 8, U.S. 5
Czechia 9, Germany 7
Draw 10
Canada 9, Great Britain 5
Switzerland 8, Germany 4
Italy 8, U.S. 5
Sweden 7, Norway 4
Mouat’s playoff chances are on life support
The wheels are falling off the track for Great Britain’s Team Bruce Mouat at the Winter Games in ways we’ve never seen before from this team.
As world-ranked No. 1 coming into the tournament, they were the clear favourites to win the gold medal, but now the silver medalists from just four years ago are going to need a lot of help if they’re even to make the playoffs.
In their loss to Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs (who clinched a playoff spot), there were multiple uncharacteristic mistakes by all four players, but most importantly by Mouat.
In the first end Mouat handed Jacobs two after jamming an easy double takeout that should have resulted in a blank.
That set the tone for the game as Mouat just never looked like himself. The seventh end was the dagger, as Mouat left Jacobs an open draw for three. From there, the British skip looked mentally defeated.
Jacobs, who had a 2-13 all-time record against Mouat coming into the game, knew how crucial it was for not only his team, but also Mouat.
“It’s a big win, it’s a big win. You know those guys (Great Britain) have had our number for a long time, have a real hard time beating that team. So, to be at six wins now and I think we’ve guaranteed, that’s huge,” Jacobs told CBC Olympics.
“We knew that coming into that game getting six wins, historically in the Olympics in men’s play is a big number and at the same time handing the best team in the world a fourth loss is also a big deal.”
Now, Mouat needs a lot of help. In order to make the playoffs, he must beat the U.S. and then have either Italy or Norway lose both of their games.
Czechia makes history
You might be asking why there is a section on a team that was 0-6 heading into Tuesday morning’s game against Germany.
Well, some victories mean more than others.
It could have been easy for the Czech team of Lukas Klima, Marek Cernovsky, Martin Jurik and Lukas Klipa to pack it in versus Germany, knowing their chances of making the playoffs were over. But they didn’t and now they have made Czechia curling history.
With their 9-7 win over Germany, they became the first Czech men’s curling team to ever win a game at the Olympics.
USA continues to shock the women’s pool
The U.S. women’s team led by skip Tabitha Peterson is off to a strong start with a 5-2 record.
It’s a surprising run of success considering that coming into the Olympics, Peterson and her team had never even reached a Grand Slam of Curling final, and her best performance was at the 2021 Worlds where she captured a bronze medal.
Overall, the Americans are right in the middle of the pack with an 82.2 shooting percentage as a team, but it’s been the upsets this week that have put them in a great position to reach the playoffs and play for a medal. If they clinch, they will become just the second U.S. women’s team to play for a medal, and potentially the first to claim one. The only other time was in 2002, when the Americans finished fourth on home soil in Salt Lake City.
Peterson and her team are proof that, if you peak at the right time, anything can happen.
Norway brought out their secret weapon
Finally, something all curling fans can be happy about at the 2026 Olympics.
The Norwegian squad of Magnus Ramsfjell, Martin Sesaker, Bendik Ramsfjell and Gaute Nepstad busted out the ‘fancy pants’ made famous by the one and only Thomas Ulsrud during their match against Sweden on Tuesday.
Not only is it something curling fans love to see, but it’s also a way to pay tribute to the best curler Norway has ever seen. Ulsrud died in May of 2022 at just 50 years old after battling cancer.
Ulsrud and his teammates debuted the pants during the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, where he won a silver medal. The skipper also won a world championship in 2014.
Even though Norway might have lost the match against Sweden, they were the best-looking team on the ice, thanks to the legendary pants.
Olympic curling continues Wednesday at 3:05 a.m. ET/ 12:05 a.m. PT with the Canadians returning to action later in the day. Both Jacobs and Homan will play one game each against the host Italy. Jacobs goes first at 8:05 a.m. ET/5:05 a.m. PT while Homan will play at 1:05 p.m. ET/10:05 a.m. PT.
Homan and Jacobs are trying to give Canada its first gold medal in either the men’s or women’s discipline since 2014, when Jacobs and Jennifer Jones won.