On final shot, U.S. women’s curling scores biggest Olympic win in 24 years, by an inch – The Athletic
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — To quote Al Pacino on a very different game, the inches we need are everywhere around us.
And when Tabitha Peterson needed to find the inches that would take the U.S. to the semifinals of a women’s Olympic curling tournament for the first time since 2002, she trusted her teammates and her legs, and delivered a rock for the ages.
“An inch, two inches — it was definitely us,” said Tara Peterson, Tabitha’s teammate and younger sister, who helped sweep Tabitha’s stone to its final resting spot, just that tiny bit closer to the middle than two Swiss stones on the other side of the target’s inner green circle.
For a moment, it seemed as if we might need a measurement, but Switzerland could see that Peterson had found her inch.
HOW CAN YOU NOT BE ENTERTAINED?! TEAM USA CURLING ADVANCES TO THE SEMIFINALS! 🤯 #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/jAPqZWaXtp
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 19, 2026
The stakes could not have been higher. The American team, ranked 17th in the world coming into these Games, started its final game of the round-robin phase knowing victory against the second-ranked Swiss, who had already booked their place in the last four, would see it advance.
After a cagey, scoreless opening end, the two teams traded single-point ends before Peterson won one against the head to give the U.S. a 3-1 lead at the game’s halfway stage.
Over on the far side of the room, Great Britain was playing Italy. The British needed to win to have any chance of progress, but they also needed the U.S. to slip up.
As the ends ticked by, that looked less and less likely. And then it happened again.
The day before, the U.S. had seen a winning position against Great Britain evaporate with British skipper Rebecca Morrison’s last stone. What had looked like relatively serene progress to the last four suddenly got a little bumpier.
And now, with the U.S. leading 6-3 and playing against a Swiss team that had failed to score more than a point in any of the previous ends, Swiss vice-skipper Alina Pätz found the inches she needed to score three points with a stunning final throw. Great Britain had seen off Italy at that point, and Canada had beaten Korea. We knew Sweden, Switzerland and Canada would be coming back Friday, but who would join them?
What had been a pretty raucous atmosphere suddenly got very tense. The Americans had the advantage of the last stone in the extra end, but they were no longer nailing every shot, and Swiss stones were soon cluttering up the path to the button.
“We were really close on two of the double peel attempts, so, yeah, if we made that, it’s maybe a little bit easier,” Tabitha Peterson said when asked to explain her thought process as she lined up that last shot.
“But as the end was shaping up, it looked like I was going to have a whole four (feet) for a draw or a tap, so that’s what I was preparing myself for.”
Sure, there was a four-foot gap to aim for, but only if we forget the 90-plus feet she had to navigate before that, and the fact that two Swiss stones were no more than two feet from the button.
Asked what she was thinking before her sister released the rock, Tara Peterson said: “Prior to the shot, no emotions, you can’t feel that yet, you just need to be smart.
“We knew leaving Tab a draw that she was going to make it, and Taylor (Anderson-Heide) and I were going to sweep it perfectly. Well, we maybe almost overswept it, but it turned out fine.
“So, yeah, you hold in all the emotions and then the moment you make that shot, then they all come pouring out.”
She was right about that. The split second the stone stopped, and the Swiss shook their heads, the vocal American contingent in the crowd, which included mixed doubles silver medalist Korey Dropkin, broke out the “U.S.A.” chant and bounced out the door into the Cortina evening.
“It was more just knowing what the draw speed was,” Tabitha Peterson said.
“All game, I had pretty good draw weight, and the sweepers told me, ‘Yep, it’s the same speed you’ve been throwing, so give me that.’ So, I just trusted my legs and trusted that my sweepers would get it there.”
They did. Barely. But an inch was all that was needed.
Asked what the plan was now, Tara Peterson said: “Nutrition, sleep, hug my baby, and then we just do it again tomorrow.”
By “it,” she meant playing Switzerland again Friday afternoon, with a chance to play for a gold medal on Sunday at stake. Canada, this season’s top-ranked team, will play Sweden.
