Canada’s Team Homan suffers shocking loss to U.S. at Winter Olympics

Team USA has stunned Canada’s Rachel Homan at the Winter Olympics.

The American team, led by skip Tabitha Peterson, defeated the top-ranked team in the world 9-8 on Friday. It marks the first time a U.S. women’s curling team has beaten Canada at the Olympics.

With the loss, Canada’s record fell to 1-1 at Milano Cortina 2026.

Coming into the match, Homan was 12-1 all-time versus Peterson’s rink. 

“Just not making the shots we normally make,” Homan told CBC Olympics after the game. “I think the ice was fairly consistent. We just need to play better than that.”

All four members of Canada’s team struggled to get a grip on the ice throughout the game, but the Canadians still held a 3-2 lead at the break.

In the sixth end, however, disaster struck for Canada.

The Americans were sitting four with hammer before Homan threw her first stone.

Homan wasn’t able to make a double in either of her attempts and left an open draw for four, which Peterson capitalized on to take a 6-3 lead. 

Even though nothing much was working for the Canadians, they got back into the game thanks to some costly mistakes by the Americans.

Peterson’s miss on a double attempt in the ninth end opened the door for Homan to score three and take an 8-7 lead.

In the 10th end, another mistake by Peterson left a double for Homan on her last stone, but she wasn’t able to come through with the hit and the American skip made a draw for the win.

Canada still has one remaining game left Friday in curling. Brad Jacobs will be back on the ice at 1:05 p.m. ET / 10:05 a.m. PT (CBC Gem, Sportsnet+) to take on Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin, which is 0-2 to start the tournament.

Jacobs improved to 2-0 with a 6-3 win over the U.S. earlier Friday. 

This is Homan’s third straight Olympics after competing in the women’s discipline in 2018 and the mixed doubles event in 2022 with John Morris.

Both times Homan failed to reach the playoffs.