Canada faces renewed curling cheating allegations from Swiss team

Canada faces renewed accusations of cheating after a member of the Swiss men’s curling team raised concerns about double tapping during a single-round match on Saturday. The allegations come shortly after World Curling made adjustments to officiating following initial allegations against Canadian Marc Kennedy.

Switzerland became the only unbeaten team in Milan Cortina as they defeated Canada 9-5 for their fourth straight win, but the victory did not come without controversy.

Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin stated on broadcast that he witnessed double touches while talking to his coach during the fifth-last break.

CLICK HERE TO GET MORE SPORTS NEWS ON FOXNEWS.COM

“I don’t want to focus too much on it but it was a double touch and the referee saw it,” he said. Toronto Star. It was unclear whether these concerns were conveyed to authorities.

The debate spread to the women’s side on Saturday.

Canadian curler Rachel Homan had her stone removed after an official determined she had touched it again after letting go of its handle. Homan protested, but under World Curling rules there are no official replays and the referee’s final call stands.

Accordingly Athletic, In a video replay of the incident, Homan’s finger was seen grazing the rock.

Canada’s Rachel Homan watches the women’s curling round robin session against Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The event took place on February 14, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The new accusations come after World Curling first issued a statement addressing the Sweden’s allegations on Friday and Kennedy’s subsequent reaction, which was recorded live on air.

WORLD CURLING FOUND NO VIOLATIONS AFTER CHEATING ALLEGATIONS IN THE ROCK CANADA-SWEDEN CURLING MATCH

The statement began: “Game Referees are located at the end of each sheet and cannot physically observe every shooting violation. However, when notified of shooting problems, game referees are positioned to observe shots at three ends. No violations were recorded during this observation period in Friday night’s game.”

The sport’s governing body also addressed two rules concerns, including “double tapping” and tapping the granite. According to the rules, players may touch the handle multiple times, but “touching the handle after the hog line is prohibited and will result in the removal of the piece from play.” Additionally, if the granite of the stone is touched during the “forward movement”, the stone will be removed from play.

As a result of the allegations, World Curling said two officials would be assigned to monitor all deliveries from Saturday’s matches.

Canada’s Brad Jacobs and Marc Kennedy compete against Sweden in the men’s curling tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The event took place on February 13, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

At that time, Kennedy strongly denied the accusations made by Swedish Oskar Eriksson, saying, “Who is doing this? I haven’t done it even once, you can go away.”

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

Canada was given a verbal warning for the language Kennedy used, and Kennedy apologized on Saturday, but the apologies ended there.

“I probably could have handled myself better right now,” he told CBC. “I know I’m a role model for Canadian curlers, so if I apologize, it’s to young curlers across the country who are expecting more from me at that moment.”

Kennedy said he defended himself and his team when their integrity came under criticism and accused Sweden of being at fault, saying he believed they were “planning in advance to try to catch us.”

“They came up with a plan to catch the teams in the act,” Kennedy said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital Sports streaming on Xand subscribe Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.