CORTINA D’AMPEZZO – Umpire concerns remained at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on Monday. The Canadian women’s team’s losing streak did not.
Rachel Homan guided her foursome to a 10-5 victory over China’s Rui Wang in the first women’s session since World Curling backtracked on umpiring setup changes.
“It was a good flow, good vibes, and all-around execution,” said Canadian coach Heather Nedohin. “So good morning, Canada.”
Homan and her Ottawa-based women’s team of Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes scored four points in the fourth end and tacked on three more in the sixth. The victory ended a three-game losing skid.
Homan evened her record at 3-3 in the evening with a 9-6 victory over Japan’s Sayaka Yoshimura. With Japan sitting three in the 10th end, Homan made a game-winning draw for a single point.
Homan had a rock pulled in a loss to Switzerland on Saturday when an umpire monitoring the hog line called her for double-touching the stone. It was the first day with an increased umpire presence in the delivery area to watch for potential violations.
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The sport’s governing body said Sunday night that umpires would return to their regular setup of monitoring the delivery area when requested by the opposing team.
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“I mean there’s always something blowing up at the Olympics, right?” Miskew said. “So this year it’s this. It’s all good, we’ll get through it and I think that it’ll die down eventually.”
After a request by China, an umpire was called out to watch the hog line on Homan’s throws.
“They have every right to do that,” Homan said. “So yeah, we asked for the umps to watch their team. And they didn’t, but that’s fine. It’s not a part of our game. You go over the hog line, we don’t care.
“We’re in our game, we’re focused on our game.”
In an email, World Curling’s communications chief Chris Hamilton said Canada didn’t actually ask the umpire to watch China’s stones.
“They asked how long umpires would be watching Rachel’s stones following the request by China, and were told what ends she would be observed,” Hamilton said. “They then asked why (the umpires) weren’t also watching China’s stones.
“But as was explained in the meeting with team representatives and shared in our statement (Sunday), teams need to ask for an athlete’s deliveries to be monitored by an umpire and only that athlete is observed.”
The top four teams at the end of round-robin play Thursday afternoon will advance to the semifinals on Friday.
“We expect that from that team,” Homan said. “We wouldn’t expect it from certain teams, but it’s going to happen. It’s at the Olympics.”
Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg (6-0) remained unbeaten after a 6-4 win over Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, who rebounded in the evening with a 10-6 win over Great Britain’s Sophie Jackson.
South Korea’s Eunji Gim outscored China 10-9 to move into a three-way tie for second place with American Tabitha Peterson and Switzerland. The United States dropped a 7-2 decision to Stefania Constantini of host Italy.
Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont of Denmark was tied with Canada at 3-3. Great Britain and China were next at 2-4.
“We want to play fierce, play with pride and give it all we have,” Homan said. “That’s all we can do. That’s what’s in our control. And it’s to every other team’s right to call officials if that’s how they feel like they need to play.”
Medal games are scheduled for the weekend.
“When we’re playing the way we’re playing, it’s like we’ve got blinders on,” Nedohin said. “And we’re at the point right now, whether it’s the cameramen, whether it’s the crazy crowd, whether it’s the officials, we’re executing in front of us.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2026.
In what sport do you have to “ask” an umpire to watch… Oh yea curling