Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg led her team to a 6-5 victory over Switzerland in a tightly contested final at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. This win marked Sweden as the first women’s team to secure three Olympic medals overall. The team, known as “Team Hasselborg,” previously won gold at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 and secured a bronze in Beijing in 2022.
Despite their past achievements, Sweden was not favored to win at Milano Cortina 2026. Significant changes in the team during the previous Olympic cycle, including three team members, including Hasselborg, experiencing pregnancies in 2023, led to a challenging period. However, they regained form leading up to the Cortina campaign, clinching their third European Curling Championships title in November.
During the competition, Sweden performed strongly in the round-robin matches and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals, where they defeated Canada, the top-ranked women’s team in the world and two-time world champions.
In the final match on Sunday, Sweden took an early lead with a two-point advantage, but Switzerland, led by Alina Paetz, managed to level the score at 3-3 in the sixth end. Despite a brief momentum shift in favor of Switzerland, Sweden’s Hasselborg remained composed, securing crucial points and ultimately winning the game with the help of her teammates Agnes Knochenhauer and Sara McManus.
Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni and Alina Paetz, four-time world champions, showed resilience in their performance, earning pride in winning an Olympic medal despite their defeat. In the bronze medal match, Rachel Homan’s Canada defeated the United States 10-7.
The competition at Cortina showcased high-level skill and determination from all teams, with Sweden emerging as the deserving champions in the women’s curling event.
