CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. ladies’s curling group was shocked to be taught that their defeat of Canada on Friday marked an Olympic first.
“If that’s true,” caveated Minneapolis native Taylor Anderson-Heide mentioned after the 9-8 nailbiter, “I feel we simply performed a very good sport. They’re No. 1 on the planet.”
Tara Peterson of Shoreview, Minnesota, chimed in: “It simply all the time feels actually good to beat (Canada skip) Rachel Homan. So any group to beat them, that’s fairly spectacular.”
Till Friday, the American ladies had by no means overwhelmed Canada ― a perennial favourite that has medaled in each Winter Video games since curling was added to the Olympics in 1998. The U.S. males beat the Canadians for the primary time within the 2018 round-robin and once more within the semifinals en path to their gold medal victory in Pyeongchang.
Canada’s Group Homan has for years been thought of the very best on the planet.
In Friday’s match, the U.S. managed to capitalize on just a few weak pictures by Canada. After the win, the People walked collectively down the ice and again to their coaches, elevating fists in triumph.
Peterson, like Anderson-Heide, couldn’t assist however add a qualifier to her response to questions from The Related Press: “Apparently, we’ve by no means beat them within the Olympics earlier than. That makes it simply further particular.”
This yr’s American ladies’s curling group — like their Gen-Z males’s counterparts — meld approachability with ambition. Alongside Anderson-Heide and Peterson, the group consists of skip Tabitha Peterson, who’s Tara’s older sister, in addition to cool-as-a-cucumber Cory Thiesse, who has already gained a silver medal within the blended doubles occasion. Aileen Geving, from Minnesota, is an alternate.
Three of them have jobs aside from curling, and three are moms to younger youngsters. Tara is a dentist, Tabitha a pharmacist and Thiesse a lab technician.
Tara gave beginning to her son, Eddie, in September 2024 and some months later, Tabitha had a daughter, Noelle. Geving had daughter Sienna following the 2018 Video games.
They’ve a number of matches left within the round-robin earlier than the semifinals subsequent Friday. The are 2-1 after Friday’s match, with a win towards Korea and loss to Sweden alongside the milestone.
This story has been corrected to indicate the U.S. males beat Canada in 2018 semifinal, not last, in 4th paragraph.