Tensions arose during the curling match between Canada and Sweden, when vice-skip Marc Kennedy was accused by Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson of illegally touching a released curling stone. Their heated argument caught on the television microphones soon snowballed into a controversy. But, now with tempers cooled and the dust settled, World Curling has released a statement addressing the cheating allegation.

CBC Olympics and Paralympics reporter, Devin Heroux, shared an update on X, stating, “World Curling has sent me this statement regarding the incidents and allegations of Canadian cheating from last night’s game against Sweden.”

The statement read, “The issue of second touches of the stone, specifically the granite, during the delivery was brought to the umpire’s attention.

“Officials spoke with both teams and set game umpires at the hogline to monitor deliveries for three ends, which is the official protocol following this type of complaint.

“There were no hogline violations or retouches of the stone during the observation period,” concluded the statement, effectively  putting an end to the cheating accusations.

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World Curling’s clarification comes hours after a clip circulated on X, where Marc Kennedy was spotted having an on-ice dispute with the Swedish team. A part of the video showed how Kennedy allegedly pushed the stone using his index finger while launching it.

In case you didn’t know, it’s not allowed to touch the curling stone after it’s launched, and the violation is tied to the hog-line rule.

In fact, World Curling has added electronic handles on the stones at the Winter Olympics. These handles flash red if players are still making contact with the stone beyond the hog line (the point where curlers must let go of the stone during delivery) to prevent such moments. Nevertheless, this dispute still arose and led to a heated exchange between Kennedy and Eriksson.

“Oskar was accusing us of cheating. I didn’t like it. I’ve been curling professionally for 25 years,” remarked Kennedy later.

However, World Curling’s released statement has reflected how as per the rulebook, they found nothing against the rules. And in the end, Canada’s win remains unchallenged. Here’s more on how they secured it in the first place.

Canada edged Sweden 8–6 despite cheating accusations at the Olympics

Currently, the scoreboard is led by Canada and Switzerland as both teams have maintained a winning streak. Canada, led by skip Brad Jacobs, first beat the United States 6–3. Following their win against the USA, they played against the defending champion, Sweden. 

At halftime against Sweden, Canada was ahead 3–2. However, Sweden took no time to be back in the lead by scoring 2 consecutive points. Then Canada made an impeccable comeback and scored 4 points in the eighth end.

After all the dispute and fiery clash on the ice, Canada finally secured an 8–6 win over Sweden, moving ahead with 3–0.

However, following the conclusion of the game, the Canadian vice skip reflected on the matter in a different light and calmly stated, “I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson. He’s one of the best players to ever play.”

Sweden skip Niklas Edin, on the other hand, stated, “It’s super sad, of course.” Referring to the confrontation, he further added, “These are incredibly talented athletes, but it gets a bit overshadowed by this.”

Nonetheless, the game between Sweden and Canada left fans on the edge of their seats. Not just because of the neck-and-neck match, but because of the drama too.