CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — American hopes of a first Olympic gold medal in women’s curling were dashed on Friday by a Swiss team that simply did not miss.

Twenty-four hours after skipper Tabitha Peterson had guided her team to a thrilling victory over the same opponents to book America’s place in the semifinals, it was Switzerland’s last-stone specialist Alina Pätz who kept coming up with the big shots.

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Trailing 5-4 going into the 10th end, the U.S. needed, if not a miracle on ice, then something we had not seen in this game so far: a Swiss mistake. It did not come, and Pätz threw another perfect take-out to score two and advance to Sunday’s final.

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start,” U.S. third Cory Thiesse said. “(It) felt like we were kind of chasing a lot the first half of the game, but we picked it up (in) the second half, and were able to put some pressure on them.”

We did not have long to wait to find out who would be joining her there, as Sweden, the top-ranked team in the round-robin phase, closed out a 6-3 victory over Canada.

All events have concluded. See full medal count.

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It was a very cagey affair until Swedish skipper Anna Hasselborg scored two points in the sixth end to take a 4-2 lead. That put them in a degree of control they never relinquished.

“We came up short, but Sweden played a phenomenal game,” said Canadian skip Rachel Homan. “Hats off to them and good luck in the final. Looking ahead, the game we’ve just played is over. We’ll now have our full focus on trying to bring home a bronze medal for Canada.”

Hasselborg has won one of these before, back in 2018, and was on the winning side when Sweden beat Switzerland in the bronze medal match in 2022. These two get to reprise that game on Sunday, but this time for gold.

The U.S. and Canada, meanwhile, must come back Saturday to battle for bronze. And while it is not the game either team wanted to play in, there is still much to play for, as no American women’s team has won an Olympic medal, and Homan has won three world titles but no Olympic medals.

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“We feel we battled pretty hard, particularly in the second half of the game,” Tabitha Peterson said of the loss to Switzerland. “So we’re going to take that into tomorrow and leave it all out on the ice. I don’t know how (Canada) are feeling, but I just know we’re going to have to bring our best game and they will, too.”

Pätz, meanwhile, will be targeting a first Olympic medal after two bronze medal defeats. A six-time world champion, you cannot help feeling that she will take some stopping.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Olympics, Global Sports, Women’s Olympics

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