Women’s curling action is heating up in Cortina.
Just under halfway through the round robin, there have been surprises, standout performances, and yes, a little bit of drama at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Here’s how the ten teams in Italy have been stacking up so far, divided into tiers.
The class of the pool
Sweden (4-0)
Perhaps inspired by the country’s mixed doubles team, Sweden has been firing on all cylinders this week.
The 2025 European champion skip Anna Hasselborg has been the best in the field so far, with an 83.6 percent mark, tops among her position. Yet to play Canada or Switzerland, the perceived top two teams coming into the week (again: perceived), a playoff spot is far from secured for Hasselborg’s rink. But you can only play the teams in front of you, and the 2018 Olympic gold medallist and 2022 bronze medallist rink is the lone undefeated team left in the field.
Cruisin’ right along
Switzerland (3-1)
Despite Switzerland falling behind 4-0 against Canada on Saturday, the four-time world champions were able to come away with the victory to continue a strong week so far.
An uncharacteristic 64 percent game from Alina Pätz contributed to a 7-5 loss against Japan, but that has been the team’s lone blemish on the record so far as they’ve pushed through some adversity to be right in the playoff mix.
USA (3-1)
Who saw this coming? Fresh off third Cory Thiesse picking up a silver medal in mixed doubles, Team USA has been cruising along nicely as well as just about anyone.
After having to fight their way into the field via the Olympic Qualification Event, Tabitha Peterson’s rink is curling 84.1, the second-best mark so far of any team in the field.
A big win over Canada’s Rachel Homan has put their playoff dreams within reach, while also delivering a major blow to the hopes of their neighbours to the north.
China (2-1)
China’s team’s combined 84.8% mark is top out of 10 teams through three games.
Lead Jiayi Jiang has been the star of the show, curling 99% in the team’s first game before following it up with consecutive 96% games.
China’s two wins have come against teams that were expected to have a rougher week, particularly against the host Italians. But you can only beat the teams that are in front of you, and they’ve set themselves up to be in the playoff hunt throughout the remainder of the tournament.
In the hunt
Denmark (2-2)
After going stone-for-stone in the first few ends against Canada, the Danes fell 10-4 in their opener in what could’ve been a precursor for a tough week.
But they’ve picked up two three-point wins by way of 10-7 and 6-3 Ws over Japan and Korea, while falling just 6-5 to their nearby rivals in Sweden. One of the few teams who did not play in Tier 1 Grand Slam events this season, Denmark has proven their mettle as a scrappy underdog capable of hanging with top teams, though they’ll need a strong push to make some more noise this week.
Korea (2-2)
Eun-ji Gim’s rink has been ranked higher in the world than all four of its opponents so far, but we all know the game’s not played on paper. They’ve split their results to date, dropping their opener to USA and their most recent game to Denmark, but beating Italy and Great Britain in the middle. With a team average of 79.8 that ranks sixth in the field, they’re playing well enough to stay alive, with the possibility that there’s more to come.
Making some good memories
Great Britain (1-2)
After winning gold in 2022, casual British curling fans might be surprised to see their country struggling. But with a roster of first-time Olympians (save for Jen Dodds, who was on Eve Muirhead’s championship rink in Beijing), the Brits were outscored 16-7 in their first two games before shockingly taking a victory off Canada in their third.
Despite the big win, a playoff spot doesn’t exactly seem likely, but it should provide a great experience for a team with four members under 30 that are building for the future.
Disappointing
Canada (1-3)
Rachel Homan’s Olympic bogeyman appears to have arrived in Cortina.
Though an extra-end loss to Switzerland on Saturday would be nothing to worry about in usual circumstances, the Winter Olympics haven’t been normal for Homan and her teammates.
In her previous two appearances, she missed the playoffs in 2018 in the women’s event and again in 2022 as a mixed doubles rep.
After beating Denmark 10-4, one-point losses to the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland have put Team Canada needing to possibly win out at a shot in both the round robin and the medal round to claim the gold medal they were largely expected to snag as the two-time defending world champions.
If there’s any saving grace for the Canadians, it’s that they have a day off on Sunday to regroup before taking on China on Monday at 3:05 a.m. EST.
Japan (1-3)
One of two teams to qualify for the Olympics via the Olympic qualification event, Japan have struggled to find their footing in Cortina.
Interestingly, they’ve been able to knock off Switzerland as previously mentioned, but losses to USA, Sweden, and Denmark have them in tough to make the playoff picture. Inconsistency has been a hallmark of this team all season, and it’s coming out at the worst possible time.
Thanks for hosting!
Italy (0-4)
All the concerns appear to be coming true for the host team. Never truly being able to measure up to the elite teams of the world on a consistent basis this past quadrennial, Italy have lost games 7-4, 7-2, 8-7, and 8-6.
It’d take a miracle for Stefania Constantini, a bronze medal winner in mixed doubles, to pull this rink out of the basement and give the home fans something to cheer about.
