What are the Olympic curling events?
There are three curling events at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games. There is a team event for both men's and women's curling, which consists of four members on a curling team with a fifth alternate player. Along with the team events is mixed doubles curling, which are teams made of one man and one woman athlete representing a country.
How does curling scoring work at the Olympics?
Men's and women's curling is played in a match consisting of ten ends, similar to an inning of baseball. In each end of curling, teams deliver eight stones, two per person on a four-person team. In mixed doubles curling, teams deliver five stones in each end, with one pre-placed stone in designated positions on the ice.
Scoring is determined after all stones have been thrown in the end toward the house, which is the ring of circles that make up the scoring area in curling. With the objective to throw the stones as close as possible to the center of the house, also called the button, a team scores a point for each stone that is closer to the button than the opponents' best stone as long as the stone is within six feet of the button.
The team with the most points at the end of ten ends (eight ends for mixed doubles curling) wins the match. If the teams are tied at the end of the regulation ends, teams play extra ends until one team outscores the other team in an extra end.
How do curling teams qualify and compete at the Olympics?
At the 2026 Winter Games, ten teams in each discipline will qualify to compete in Olympic curling events, meaning 30 teams consisting of 10 men's, women's and mixed doubles curling teams will have a chance to compete at Milan Cortina.
Each curling season, points are allocated by World Curling, the national governing body of the sport. The eight highest-ranked National Olympic Committees in each discipline, based on Olympic qualification points earned in events from 2024-2025, automatically will qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Italy, the host country, automatically qualifies for each competition as the host, unless it declines its host country qualification in any of the three events. If Italy does not finish in the top-eight qualifiers in any of the disciplines, then only the top-seven teams ranked by qualification points will earn an automatic bid.
The teams with points ranked from 9-13 by OQPs in the men's and women's competitions, along with the top-three National Olympic Committees from the pre-qualification event (in fall 2025) will compete in the Olympic qualification event to determine the final two slots in each discipline.
In mixed doubles, any team that qualified for the 2024 or 2025 world championships that did not yet qualify can compete at the Olympic qualification event. If there are fewer than 16 teams eligible to compete, the next highest teams selection from the world ranking list are invited until all slots are filled.
Who are the top Olympic curling teams and countries?
In women's curling, Canada earned the most qualification points among the field of countries thanks to its dominance winning back-to-back curling world titles entering the Milan Cortina Games. They are led by skipper Rachel Homan, who has competed at two Olympics but still is seeking her first medal. Historically, Canada is considered the best curling country, with 12 all-time medals (six gold), just one more than Sweden. Despite the country's dominance in the sport, neither the men's nor the women's team has earned gold at a Winter Olympics in curling since 2014.
While Sweden won the 2022 Winter Olympics and famously lost to the United States men's curling team in the gold medal match of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Great Britain enters as the top qualifier for the Milan Cortina Games. With skipper Bruce Mouat leading the team, Great Britain pushed Sweden to an extra end in the gold medal match of the men's tournament, losing on the final shot. They have a chance for redemption at the 2026 Games.
The strongest American team comes from the mixed doubles category; Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse qualified for the Milan Cortina Games after winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in February 2025. The pair won the 2023 World Championships and swept the best-of-three championship series in the final round of the Team Trials to earn their spot representing the U.S.
As the No. 8 qualifier, the U.S. will face a tough lineup of competition in Milan Cortina. The home team, Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, are the defending 2022 gold medalists and 2025 World Champions in mixed doubles play. Estonia and 2024 mixed doubles World Champions Sweden enter the field with the most qualification points of the field.
Where will the Milan Cortina 2026 Curling events be held?
Curling events will be held in the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, the same venue that was used for figure skating during the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
