More conflict in curling as Canadian women are accused of the same violation as men

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Canada’s women’s curling team at the Milan Cortina Olympics was accused Saturday of the same violation that prompted an expletive-laden outburst from a Canadian men’s curler a day earlier.

The latest accusation in a controversy that has divided the curling community led to more tense moments on the ice at the Cortina Curling Center.

In the first end of the women’s game against Switzerland, which the Swiss ultimately won 8-7, officials called a foul, saying that skip Rachel Homan had touched her stone again after releasing it.

In curling, that’s known as “double-touching,” and it’s against the rules.

Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canada ’s Marc Kennedy of the same infraction during Canada’s 8-6 win in round-robin play late Friday. On the ice, Kennedy repeatedly used profanity while denying he broke any rules. Although video of his throw appeared to confirm the accusation, Kennedy maintained his innocence into Saturday and went so far as to accuse Sweden of having a “premeditated” plan.

Though the Canadian women were not as fired up in response to the allegation of double-touching, they surely looked incredulous after the call.

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“Like, absolutely not,” said Homan, who is known as one of the best skips in the world. “Zero-percent chance.”

Homan’s teammate, Emma Miskew, could be heard briefly engaging with an official on the sidelines, asking why video could not be used to review the call. The official explained that the team needed to trust the umpire. By rule, World Curling does not use video to review game play.

Before restarting the match, the Canadian women huddled with their coaches. Expletives could be heard from those in the circle, though it was not clear who uttered them.

After the game, Homan said she felt she’d been unfairly scrutinized because of the controversy on the men’s side.

“I don’t understand the call. I’ll never understand it. We’ve never done that,” she said. “It has nothing to do with us.”

After an early win over Denmark, the Canadian women have lost their last three matches. They lost to the United States on Friday, the first time in Olympic history that the U.S. had beaten Canada in women’s curling.

Also in women’s action on Saturday, Sweden women beat Italy 8-6, Denmark beat Korea 6-3 and the U.S. beat Japan 7-4.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics