Officials were forced to clarify throw rules after tempers flared during a men’s curling round-robin contest between Sweden and Canada on Friday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

Between the second and third ends of Friday’s game, Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson was shown on the NBC broadcast telling an official he believed a Canadian player was double-touching the stone on throws. Video from the match appeared to prove on at least one early throw Marc Kennedy had released the stone then nudged it forward slightly with his index finger. The move prompted Sweden to bring it to the attention of officials.

Curling has officials, but they don’t stand next to the ice unless prompted, and video replay is not used. Players are generally trusted to police their own throws and take rocks out themselves if they know they’re burned. 

World Curling, the sport’s governing body, said in a statement released on Saturday, "Decisions made during a game are final."

Eriksson was shown on the NBC broadcast going to the officials table at the conclusion of the second end of Friday's round-robin contest between Canada and Sweden.

“No way you can do that to the rock,” Eriksson was heard telling the official. “Is it allowed to do it or not? That’s the question.”

While Eriksson was standing at the table, Canada’s Ben Hebert walked up and told the official to also watch out for the Swedish player’s throws.

“I saw Oskar double-touch the back of the rock,” Hebert told the official. “Make sure you watch it.”

This led to a short exchange of words between the two opposing players.

“Is it cheating playing left-handed?” Eriksson said.

“It’s not that big of a deal for you,” Hebert responded.

“Same for you, man,” Eriksson said. “I was trying to see what the rules are and find out.”

After they went back to play, tensions came to a head at the end of the ninth end when Erikkson asked Kennedy directly about the violation.

“I thought it wasn’t OK. Touching the rock after the hog line?,” Eriksson could be heard saying.

“Who’s doing it? Who?” Kennedy angrily said in response from the opposite side of the ice.

“It’s a couple. It’s a couple,” Eriksson said.

Kennedy again asked who, and Eriksson pointed at him.

“I haven’t done it once. You can f— off,” Kennedy said.

“You haven’t done it once? I’ll show you after the game,” Eriksson said.

The two continued to exchange words, including Eriksson insisting again he would show Kennedy a video. Another expletive by Kennedy followed with him pointing out officials were watching closely after the first notification and they didn’t say anything to him.

The teams eventually went back to finish the match, and Canada ended up scoring one in the 10th for an 8-1 win.

Asked after the match about the exchange, Kennedy told Reuters: "It's good. It's sport. It's the Olympics. Both teams are trying to win. Oskar was accusing us of cheating. I didn't like it. I've been curling professionally for 25 years."

Devin Heroux, a senior sports reporter for CBC Sports in Canada, posted on social media on Saturday that World Curling, the sport’s governing body, has sent an email to all curling teams competing in Cortina with clarification on what is the proper release of stones.

World Curling also released a statement on their website on Saturday addressing the situation. The statement reiterated the rules sent to teams.

“When delivering a stone, before the hog line players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish,” the statement read. “However, touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed and will result in the stone being removed from play as per Rule R.5 (e).

“During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play. As per rule R.5 (d) ‘The curling stone must be delivered using the handle of the stone.’ Violation of this rule, will result in the stone being removed from play."

The statement added that it is not possible for the governing body to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery, but they will have two officials move between all four sheets and observe deliveries beginning during Saturday’s games.

“Game umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction,” the statement read. “However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends. During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.

The statement also said World Curling issued a verbal warning to the Canadian team after Friday’s match, and added that further inappropriate behavior would result in additional sanctions.

“Rule R.19 states: ‘Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or willful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organization having jurisdiction.’” The statement concluded.

Kennedy also pointed out to reporters the rocks have hog line devices that detect if the stone is touched after it has passed the hog line. The device does not, however, detect if the stone is touched on the granite, which is what Eriksson said he believed Kennedy did, and what the video appeared to show.

"He asked who we thought was over the hog line and I pointed out who we thought was touching the rock," Eriksson said. "It was obviously not a red light, but some players are touching the rock, according to us, and that's not allowed.

“We told the officials. They came out and they misread the rules, sadly, because they thought double-touching any part of the rock is O.K. And then they found out that was wrong. You can only touch the electronic part of the handle."

"He might have been upset that he was losing," Kennedy added. "He might be upset that they're 0-2, grasping for straws. I just told him again, I said, I have a ton of respect for him as a player. I've never said a bad word about Oskar Eriksson... I don't really know what he's trying to get out of it. And yeah, onward. But I'm not going to stand there and take cheating lightly."

According to Reuters, World Curling said in a statement umpires had been set at the hog line to monitor deliveries for three ends after the issue was first raised during the game.

"There were no hog line violations or retouches of the stone during the observation," the statement added.

Reuters added additional reporting to this story.