Curling at 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics: Rules, Events, Everything to Know

Curling returns to the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, beginning two days before the official Opening Ceremony on February 6 and airing on NBC and Peacock. The sport dates back to Scotland in 1716 and reappeared as an Olympic event in modern times in 1998, with mixed doubles added in 2018.

The competition will launch on February 4 and run through February 22. A standard match is 10 ends between two teams sliding 44-lb granite stones from the hack toward the house on a nearly 150-foot sheet of ice. Stones must be released by the hog line, 33 feet from the hack and 21 feet from the house center, while teammates sweep to influence speed and direction.

Skips direct strategy, teams score for stones closer to the button than the opponent within six feet, one 60-second timeout is allowed per game, and ties are resolved with an extra end; the hammer, or last stone of an end, is a key advantage. There will be three Olympic curling events: men’s team, women’s team and mixed doubles, with 10 rinks in each.

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