Canada adds medals in women’s curling, speedskating as Jacobs plays for gold

By Canadian Press on February 21, 2026.

MILAN — Ivanie Blondin skated to a second straight silver in the women’s mass start and Rachel Homan’s team defeated the United States for curling bronze as Canadian women added two more medals to the country’s tally on Day 15 of the Milan Cortina Games.

Blondin, the 35-year-old defending silver medallist from Beijing 2022, earned her second speedskating medal of the Games, after previously teaming up with Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann to win a gold in the women’s team pursuit.

The Ottawa skater added a silver to her resumé on Saturday after crossing the line behind Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands in the 16-lap race known for upsets and strategy.

Maltais fell at the beginning of the mass start race, but recovered to place fifth.

Meanwhile, Homan’s Ottawa-based team of Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes beat American Tabitha Peterson 10-7 on Saturday to win bronze at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

It’s Homan’s first Olympic medal and Canada’s first in women’s curling since 2014, when Jennifer Jones led the team to gold at the Sochi Games.

Canada is guaranteed at least one more medal Saturday after Brad Jacobs, Canada’s 2014 Olympic champion, plays in the men’s gold medal game.

Jacobs’ Calgary-based rink looks to end Canada’s 12-year golden drought in men’s curling when it faces Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and Great Britain in the final. Canada beat the British 9-5 in round-robin play.

Canada’s Reece Howden made an unexpected early exit from the men’s ski cross event on Saturday, after entering the event as a medal favourite. The three-time Crystal Globe winner from Chilliwack, B.C., blasted event organizers for staging the competition in poor conditions that included heavy, wet snow.

“This is just a joke really,” he said. “We would never run a downhill race in these conditions … I bet you we were going 10 to 15 seconds slower than this morning, at least. You can’t pass, it’s a whole different course. This is not ski cross.”

The country’s medal chances in freestyle skiing also took a blow after former gold medallist Cassie Sharpe confirmed she will not be competing in the Olympic halfpipe final after a nasty fall in qualifying Thursday.

Sharpe, who has a heavy concussion, facial contusion and some lingering dizziness, said in a video that she’s looking forward to cheering on teammates Amy Fraser and Rachael Karker in the final, which has been pushed from Saturday to Sunday due to poor weather.

The men’s hockey bronze-medal game is set with Finland taking on Slovakia. The Finns lost in heartbreaking fashion, watching a 2-0 lead turn into a 3-2 loss to Canada thanks to Nathan MacKinnon’s winner with 35 seconds left. The Slovaks fell 6-2 to the U.S. in the other semifinal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2026.

The Canadian Press