Sweden and Switzerland to play for Olympic Gold at Milano Cortina 2026

Sweden will play Switzerland for gold medals on Sunday, after both emerged victorious from Friday afternoon’s women’s semi-final match-ups.

Sweden were 6-3 winners over Canada, while Switzerland beat United States of America 7-4.

In their game against Canada, Sweden, as round-robin table toppers, started with last stone advantage. In the first end, Sweden skip Anna Hasselborg played a tap-up of her own stone onto the button to open the scoring with a single point. Canada then levelled in the second end when their skip Rachel Homan played her draw through a port to score one.

Anna Hasselborg, Sweden © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Sweden were trying to blank the third end but good play by the Canadians forced Hasselborg to take one point with a nose-hit. Another draw by Homan in the fourth gave Canada a single point to tie the game again, at 2-2.

Sweden then blanked the fifth end and finally got a break-through in the sixth when another nose-hit by Hasselborg gave them two points to edge ahead on the scoreboard, by 4-2. Sweden moved further ahead to 5-2 with a steal of one in the seventh end, when Homan got the angles wrong on a raise take-out attempt.

Rachel Homan, Canada © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

The Canadians could only score one point in the eighth, rather than more, when Homan lost control of her shooter, which rolled out of the house. This reduced Sweden’s lead to 5-3. In the ninth, Hasselborg added one more point to her team’s score when she was successful with a double take-out, for 6-3. After this, Canada ran out of stones in the tenth to put Sweden into the Olympic final against Switzerland, while Canada will face United States of America for bronze medals.

The moment Sweden won their semi-final © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

After the game, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg said, “You’re never in control in a game like that, but I had a good feeling. We did start with hammer and it was just a great game. Then, to score two in the sixth was really important for sure.”

Looking forward to the final, she said, “We want to enjoy ourselves and trust our processes — go out there and just do our best.”

Having won the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships at the end of 2025, Sweden seem to have come into form at the right time, and about that, she said, “It’s always been according to plan to have a little bit lower motivation in the first couple of years of the (Olympic) cycle, but it’s so cool that the plan is working out and that we’re peaking at the right time.”

Anna Hasselborg, Sweden © World Curling / Celine Stucki

The other semi-final saw Switzerland face United States of America, and the Americans opened the scoring in the first end with a hit and roll by their skip Tabitha Peterson to score one point.

However, Switzerland then took the early advantage in the second end when their fourth player Alina Paetz was able to score two points with her final draw of the end, to take a 2-1 lead.

Switzerland discuss their shot © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

The Americans could only score one in the third — with a nose-hit by Peterson — to level the score at 2-2, but another draw for two in the fourth end by Paetz gave Switzerland a 4-2 lead.

Yet again, in the fifth, United States of America could only score one point — this time with a tap-up by Peterson, to reduce the Swiss lead to 4-3 at the break.

Cory Thiesse, United States of America © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Switzerland then blanked both the sixth and seventh ends before Paetz played a tap-up to add one more point and a 5-3 lead.

In the ninth end, looking for a three-point score, Peterson attempted to come in off a winger, but did not get her angles right. She then had to settle for only one point, reducing Switzerland to 5-4.

In the tenth end, Paetz tapped out an American stone to score two points from the end, win the game by 7-4 and take her team into the Olympic final.

Alina Paetz makes her final shot © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

After the game, Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni said, “This is indescribable to be honest. People always say that, but it’s true. We have achieved so many things together in the last eight years but this is even better than anything we’ve done so far.”

And about the final she said, “We just have to make sure we don’t do anything different. It’s going to be a close game for sure — we have to play to our abilities; we have to make a lot of great shots and then I think it’s going to be very possible that it’s the right colour.”

Tirinzoni was uncharacteristically excited at the end of the game, and about that she said, “How can you not be? I am an emotional person but I don’t always show it, but this time I let it all out!”

Switzerland celebrate their win © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

The women’s final between Sweden and Switzerland will be the last of the action at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on Sunday (22 February), starting at 11.05. Before that, the bronze medal game between Canada and United States of America will take place on Saturday (21 February), starting at 14.05.

Find the medal games brackets here.

Find the full women’s team curling schedule and all results here.

All times are Central European Time (CET) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +1.

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