CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. women’s curling team was surprised to learn that their defeat of Canada on Friday marked an Olympic first.
“If that’s true,” caveated Minneapolis native Taylor Anderson-Heide said after the 9-8 nailbiter, “I think we just played a really good game. They’re No. 1 in the world.”
Tara Peterson of Shoreview, Minnesota, chimed in: “It just always feels really good to beat (Canada skip) Rachel Homan. So any team to beat them, that’s pretty impressive.”
Until Friday, the American women had never beaten Canada ― a perennial favorite that has medaled in every Winter Games since curling was added to the Olympics in 1998. The U.S. men beat the Canadians for the first time in the 2018 round-robin and again in the semifinals en route to their gold medal victory in Pyeongchang.
Canada’s Team Homan has for years been considered the best in the world.
