In 2022, Niklas Edin was on top of the curling world. He won the Olympic gold medal after beating Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat and was also crowned world champion for a record-setting seventh time while winning four straight (2018-2022, excluding 2020 due to the COVID-19 cancellation).
But now in 2026, the times have changed.
Mouat got his revenge versus Sweden’s Team Edin on Thursday as the Swedes shook after just eight ends, losing 6-3 to drop their second straight game to open the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
Realistically, the game was still within reach by the scoreboard, but by feel, Edin knew he had no chance and decided to call it quits.
It wasn’t like Edin’s teammates were letting him down in front of him. His lead Christoffer Sundgren curled 98 per cent, second Rasmus Wrana shot 86 per cent and his third Oskar Eriksson played 91 per cent. The three of them out-curled Mouat’s front three, who also played really well.
When it came time for Edin to shoot each end, he just didn’t have it. For the game, he shot 61 per cent and, even worse, shot 44 per cent on nine hits.
It’s been trending this way for a little bit now for the Swedish skip — who hasn’t curled great on the Grand Slam of Curling tour all season — and his match against Mouat was just another example of that.
Now, starting 0-2 in possibly the toughest men’s field ever at the Olympics, it will be hard to bounce back for Edin. But if he’s got any more magic left in the tank of a legendary career, now would be the time to use it.
Here are the full results from both the women’s and men’s games on Thursday.
Women’s results from Thursday, Feb 12. (Full scores and standings)
Draw 1
U.S. 8, Korea 4
Sweden 8, Japan 4
Switzerland 7, Italy 4
Canada 10, Denmark 4
Draw 2
China 7, Great Britain 4
Korea 7, Italy 2
Denmark 10, Japan 7
Sweden 9, U.S. 4
Men’s results from Thursday, Feb 12. (Full scores and standings)
Draw 2
Germany 5, Norway 4
Switzerland 8, U.S. 3
Great Britain 6, Sweden 3
Homan settles into Olympics
Listen, even though Canada’s Team of Rachel Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes are the heavy favourite to win the gold medal, winning the first game was bigger than people might realize, especially for Homan.
This is her third consecutive Olympic Games representing the country — she was at the women’s discipline in 2018, and the mixed doubles event in 2022. But for one of the best curlers of all time, she’s yet to reach the podium.
In 2018, it was a disaster for Homan and Miskew, who’s been her longtime teammate. They started 0-3 and finished the week 4-5. At the 2022 games, playing with John Morris, Homan started 1-3. Both times after the bad starts, Homan was able to settle into her rhyme and rattle off wins, but it was already too late to make the playoffs.
So, needless to say, starting off with a win in 2026 is already a better start.
Instead of four games to settle into the Olympics, this time it was four ends. In those four ends, the Danes played amazingly, too. Denmark even earned a steal in the third end to be tied 3-3.
However, the fifth end is where the game came to Homan and her teammates, and Fleury, playing in her first Olympics, knew it.
“We were communicating with each other really well and then the fifth end we were able to get our rocks in really good spots and put a lot of pressure on them,” Fleury said, per Curling Canada.
Homan drew into the four-foot to sit five with a guard of her own out front with her last rock. Madeleine Dupont’s only option was to try and limit the amount Homan could steal, but she only eliminated one of the Canadian stones to give up a steal of four.
From there, you could tell Homan felt more confident in her game.
“It’s a great start, obviously. It’s really great to (get) the first one under your belt (before) the (rest of the) day off. It was a really great performance by my team,” said Homan, per Curling Canada.
Now, the overall game wasn’t amazing for Canada either, as if they were playing a stronger opponent, it would’ve been hard to win. As a team, they shot 75 per cent while Homan herself shot 68 per cent.
“On every ice surface there’s going to be new lines that you’ve got to learn, and that was just a part of that game. So we’re just taking everything we can out of that game – the good and the bad, and keep learning,” Homan said, per Curling Canada.
Now that Homan has her legs under her and is starting the Olympics on a winning note for the first time in her career, expect her shooting percentage to go way up and the team to dominate play.
Thiesse continues amazing Olympic Games
Cory Thiesse will be a name people will remember because of the Milano Cortina 2026.
She already has a silver medal to her name, thanks to her outstanding play with Korey Dropkin in the mixed doubles competition, and she might be the X-factor for the U.S. women’s team if they are to make the playoffs.
Overall, the Americans had a solid opening day. They started up their tournament with an 8-4 upset win over Korea on Thursday morning before Sweden beat them 9-4 to finish the day 1-1 — the final score doesn’t do the game justice, as it was 6-4 in the 10th end and they had a chance to win the game.
Even though it’s a team game, the difference maker for the U.S. was Thiesse. She was outstanding in both games. She shot 83 per cent versus Korea and helped set up a big steal of two in the seventh end. Versus Sweden, Thiesse only got better as she shot 91 per cent, making up for Tabitha Peterson shooting just 74 per cent.
It’s hard to win a game from the third position, but you can definitely lose it. If Thiesse keeps playing like this, the U.S. very well could wind up in the fourth playoff spot.
Olympic curling continues on Friday, starting at 3:05 a.m. ET/ 12:05 a.m. PT. Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs will take on the U.S. at that time before facing Sweden at 1:05 p.m. ET/10:05 a.m. PT.
Homan’s team will go against the U.S. in its lone match of the day at 8:05 a.m. ET/ 5:05 a.m. PT.
Each team will play nine round-robin games, and the top four teams will advance to the semifinals.
