CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. women’s match to curl team was surprised to hear of their defeat of Canada Friday was an Olympic first.
“If that’s true,” he said carefully Minneapolis Born Taylor Anderson-Heide said after the 9-8 nail-biter: “I think we just played a very good match. They are number 1 in the world.”
Tara Peterson of Shoreview, Minnesota, chimed in: “It always feels really good to beat Rachel Homan (Canada skips). So whichever team beats them, that’s pretty impressive.”
Until Friday, the U.S. women had never beaten Canada — a perennial favorite that has medaled at every Winter Games since curling was added to the tournament. the Olympic Games in 1998. The American men defeated the Canadians for the first time in the 2018 round-robin and again in the semi-finals on the way to them gold medal victory in Pyeongchang.
The Canadian Team Homan has been considered the best in the world for years.
In Friday’s game, the US was able to take advantage of some weak shots from Canada. After the victory, the Americans walked off the ice together and back to their coaches, raising their fists in triumph.
Peterson, like Anderson-Heide, couldn’t help but add a qualifier to her response to questions from The Associated Press: “Apparently we’ve never beaten them in the Olympics before. That makes it extra special.”
This year’s U.S. women’s curling team is blending in, just like their Gen-Z men’s counterparts accessibility of ambition. In addition to Anderson-Heide and Peterson, the team consists of Tabitha Peterson, Tara’s older sister, and the cool Cory Thiesse, who has already won a silver medal in mixed doubles. Aileen Geving, from Minnesota, is an alternate.
Three of them have jobs other than curling, and three are mothers of young children. Tara is a dentist, Tabitha a pharmacist and Thiesse a laboratory technician.
Tara gave birth to her son Eddie in September 2024 and a few months later Tabitha had a daughter, Noelle. Geving had daughter Sienna after the 2018 Games.
They still have a few games left in the round-robin before next Friday’s semifinals. After Friday’s match, the score is 2-1, with a win against Korea and a loss against Sweden in addition to the milestone.
This story has been corrected to show that the US men defeated Canada in the 2018 semi-final, not the final, in the fourth paragraph.
