Canada women curlers out of medal contention

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Despite entering the Pyeongchang Olympics as world champions and the favorites to win gold, Canada’s women’s curling team has been eliminated from medal contention after a loss to Britain.

It’s a first for Rachel Homan and her teammates. No Canadian team has left the Olympics without a medal in men’s or women’s curling since the sport was reintroduced in 1998.

“They played really well — they put the rocks in the right spots and we really didn’t,” Homan, Canada’s “skip,” or captain, said after the stunning 6-5 defeat. “Obviously, [we’re] a little bit disappointed. We wanted to try to qualify and make the playoffs for Canada, but we gave it all we had. We never gave up and that’s the way it goes sometimes. It’s sport.”

Canada entered the final end, or period, of the match up 5-4, but the British team had an advantage known as the hammer, which means they were allowed to throw the final rock.

The Brits crowded the center of the target, known as the house, with stones. Homan tried to remove the rocks by throwing a fast-moving stone. But she didn’t quite nail the shot.

Homan then faced a difficult final shot, which had to make its way around a cluster of rocks to the bull’s-eye.

It came up short of the target. And it was games over for Homan’s team.