The Great Britain women's curling team, the reigning Olympic champions, failed to advance past the group stage at the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The results of nine rounds have determined the four semi-finalists who will continue their fight for medals.
Curling at the Olympic Games is traditionally played in a round-robin format, with the top ten teams in the world competing in a group stage. The four national teams with the highest number of wins advance to the playoff stage.
At the 2026 Games, the fight for a place in the semi-finals continued until the final day of play. In addition to Great Britain, the top four included the reigning runners-up Japan, hosts Italy, as well as the teams of the Republic of Korea, Denmark and China.
Instead, the other tournament favorites — Sweden and Canada — secured their playoff spots early before the group stage even ended.
Sweden became the top team in the group stage of the 2026 Olympics – seven wins. REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
The Great Britain team arrived at the 2026 Olympics with a significantly updated roster compared to the “golden” roster of 2022. From the team that triumphed in Beijing under the leadership of Eve Merged, only Jennifer Dodds remained in the application. Sophie Jackson became the skip of the team, and Rebecca Morrison played the role of the fourth. Sophie Sinclair also joined the main squad.
Despite victories in the final rounds over the USA and Japan, the British women finished with a record of five wins and four losses – the reigning champions took only sixth place.
The group stage saw Sweden take first place, losing only two of their nine matches. The USA, Switzerland and Canada took second, third and fourth places respectively – all three teams finished the round-robin tournament with six wins.
Curling. Final group round standings (women): top 6
- Sweden — 7 wins (2 losses)
- USA — 6 (3)
- Switzerland — 6 (3)
- Canada — 6 (3)
- South Korea — 5 (4)
- Great Britain — 5 (4)
In the semi-final pairs, the first ranked team will play against the fourth ranked team, and the second ranked team against the third ranked team. Thus, the tickets to the final will be played in the following matches:
- Sweden — Canada
- USA — Switzerland
Both games will take place on Friday, February 20, and will start at 15:05 Kyiv time. Live broadcasts will be on the Suspilne Sport platforms.