Feb 21, 2026
3 min read
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy - America's hopes for its first women's Olympic gold medal were dashed Friday by a Swiss team that just missed out.24-hours after captain Tabitha Peterson led her team to a thrilling victory over the same opponents to secure America's place in the semifinals, Swiss stoner Alina Petz continued to hit the big shots.Trailing 5-4 from the end of the 10th, the USA needed, if not a miracle on the ice, then something.
Sweden and Switzerland meet for Olympic women's curling gold;USA-Canada bronze
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy - America's hopes for a first Olympic gold medal in the women's competition were dashed Friday by the Swiss team just missing out.
Twenty-four hours after figure skater Tabitha Peterson led her team to a thrilling victory over her singles opponents to secure America's spot in the finals, Switzerland's ultimate rock specialist Alina Pätz continued to hit big shots.
Trailing 5-4 going into the 10th, the USA needed, if not a miracle on the ice, something we haven't seen in this game so far: a Swiss error.It didn't come, and Pätz threw another great game to score two goals to advance to Sunday's final.
"We started off a little slow," American third baseman Corey Thies said."(It) felt like we were running the game a lot after the first half, but we picked it up (in the second half) and were able to put some pressure on them."
We didn't have to wait long to find out who would join him as Sweden topped Canada 6-3 in the round robin.
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It was a tight affair until Swedish captain Anna Hasselborg scored two points in the sixth end to take a 4-2 lead.That put them on a limb from which they have not yet left.
"We fell short, but Sweden played an amazing game," said Canadian skip Rachel Homan."Hass to them and good luck in the finals. Looking forward, it's a game we just played. Now we'll have our full focus on trying to win back the bronze medal for Canada."
Hasselborg has already won one of those, back in 2018, and was on the winning side when Sweden defeated Switzerland in the bronze medal match in 2022. The pair will continue that match on Sunday, but this time for gold.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and Canada must return on Saturday to battle for the bronze medal.It's not a game that any team wants to play, but because the US women's team didn't win an Olympic medal.Homan has won three world championships but has yet to win an Olympic medal, so he still has a lot to play for.
"We feel like we fought pretty hard, especially in the second half of the game," Tabitha Peterson said of the loss to Switzerland."So we'll take it to tomorrow and leave it all on the ice. I don't know how (Canada) feels, but I just know we have to play our best game and so will they."
Patzova will aim for her first Olympic medal after two losses for bronze.A six-time world champion, you can't help but feel she needs to stop.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Olympics, World, Women's Olympics
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