16 February 2026
Italy win first round robin game in front of home crowd at Olympic Winter Games
Italy’s women gave the enthusiastic home crowd exactly what they had been looking for when they carved out their first win on Monday evening — beating United States of America by 7-2 in the eighth women’s round-robin session.
United States of America started with last stone advantage and blanked the first two ends, but it was the Italians who opened the scoring with a single steal in the third end. American skip Tabitha Peterson threw her last stone through the house, content to concede just one point from the end.
Italy then had a steal of two points in the fourth end for a 3-0 lead when Peterson’s double take-out attempt left two Italian stones in counting positions.
The Italians had yet another steal in the fifth end for a 4-0 lead at the break. This time Peterson got the wrong angle on a raise attempt.
United States of America finally got onto the scoreboard with one point in the sixth when Peterson drew her final stone onto the button, inside two Italian counters.
In the seventh end, Italy skip Stefania Constantini cleared out an American stone to leave another one of her stones counting, extending their lead to 5-1.
The Americans responded with a single point in the eighth end to reduce the Italian lead to 5-2, but in the ninth, Constantini took out an American stone, scoring two points and winning the game by 7-2. This first win by the Italian women has unfortunately come too late to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
Afterwards, Constantini said, “Finally we won a game! I think we were good out there. We really had a good performance this evening, we were in control of the ice, we had really good teamwork to put every stone in the right position, so it’s really good to finally have a win.”
She added, “I think after this game we will be happier for sure, so it’s important to enjoy the moment and, in the next games, really enjoy the time here with the crowd and finish this competition in the best possible way. The crowd are really fantastic; they have supported us from the very first day until now and I will miss it for sure.”
Republic of Korea played People’s Republic of China in this session and, after taking a 7-2 lead into the break, the Koreans had to score two points in the tenth end to win by 10-9.
In their dominant first-half performance, after blanking the first two ends, the Koreans scored three in the third when skip Gim Eunji drew her final stone inside three Chinese stones.
People’s Republic of China responded with two points in the fourth end when their skip Wang Rui drew a second stone into scoring position, to reduce the Korean lead to 3-2. But Republic of Korea then built up the fifth end so that when she came to play her final stone, Gim had a draw to the button to score four points and take 7-2 lead into the break.
After this, People’s Republic of China fought back, scoring three in the sixth end when Wang took out a Korean stone. Then they stole one in the seventh when Gim’s take-out attempt left a Chinese stone in counting position.
This reduced the Korean lead to 7-6, but Gim added one more in the eighth with a take-out for an 8-6 lead.
In the ninth end, Wang finished off a well-played end with a take-out, to score three points and give People’s Republic of China a 9-8 lead. However, in the tenth, Gim kept her nerve and scored the two points needed for a Korean 10-9 win with her final take-out.
This result means that Republic of Korea now share second place — behind unbeaten leaders Sweden, who did not play in this session — with Switzerland and United States of America.
After the game, Gim Eunji said, “Today we had our big lead — five points — and we were considering cheering our victory — so maybe we were getting a little bit too comfortable with ourselves on the ice. That’s maybe why the game went to the tenth end.
“But my teammates supported me 100%, we support each other and then they kind of made it happen for me, so I was able to finish it off with my last shot.”
Asked about her semi-final prospects, she said, “We aren’t actually really thinking about play-offs, we’re just more focussed on getting one win each day. And everyone is feeling good, everyone is feeling fantastic on the ice, so by achieving our game performances, I think we could be in the play-offs.”
And she finally added, “I’m having a tonne of fun!”
Switzerland share second place on the table thanks to their 10-6 win over Great Britain in this session. The British team led by 4-3 after the sixth end when their fourth player Rebecca Morrison played a take-out. Switzerland responded with a three in the seventh end when their fourth player Alina Paetz was successful with a raise take-out, taking a 6-4 lead. The Swiss then sealed their 10-6 win in the ninth end when Paetz cleared out a British stone. The British team then conceded.
While Switzerland sit in joint second place on four wins, Great Britain, on two wins, still have a mathematical chance of reaching the semi-finals.
The fourth game of the session saw Canada hold off a spirited performance by Japan to eventually win by 9-6. This was a third win for the Canadians, who now share fifth place on the table with Denmark, who were not scheduled to play in this session.
Follow the live scores from the women’s team curling at Milano Cortina 2026 here.
Find the full women’s team curling schedule and results here.
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