World Curling Pulls Back Monitoring After Kennedy Row
World Curling rescinded daylong monitoring after Sweden accused Marc Kennedy of double-touching in a Feb. 13 match at the 2026 Winter Games, prompting removed stones and a verbal warning.
Overview
World Curling rescinded a daylong policy of systematically observing players' deliveries and said umpires will observe throws only 'at the request of the competing teams' after meeting with curling officials from different countries.
The dispute began Feb. 13 when Sweden's Oskar Eriksson accused Canada's Marc Kennedy of double-touching a stone during an 8-6 match, leading to an expletive-filled on-ice exchange.
World Curling said it will not use video replays to re-litigate umpire calls and issued a verbal warning to Canadian curling officials over Kennedy's language.
Umpires removed Rachel Homan's rock Saturday and disqualified Bobby Lammie's stone Sunday morning after officials briefly stepped up monitoring.
Curlers anticipate debates over whether to use video replay for rulings and what penalties to impose as the round-robin competition continues.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the episode as a cultural crisis: headlines and leads use scandalized language ('scandal', 'rocked') and highlight the hot‑mic confrontation and rule disputes. Editorial choices foreground accusations and the 'Spirit of Curling' narrative, while including mitigating quotes, creating tension between tradition and rising professionalized scrutiny.
Sources (7)
FAQ
The protocol change was triggered by a double-touch violation dispute on February 13, 2026, during a match between Canada's Marc Kennedy and Sweden's Oskar Eriksson. After this incident and two stones being removed over a 24-hour period (Rachel Homan's stone on Saturday and Bobby Lammie's stone on Sunday), World Curling decided to revert from continuous monitoring to a request-based system following a meeting with National Olympic Committee representatives.
Under the new protocol, two umpires remain available in the field of play but only actively monitor athlete deliveries when requested by competing teams. When requested, umpires must monitor for a minimum of three ends. This replaces the previous system where umpires were actively and continuously monitoring all deliveries across the competition.
Curling Canada released a statement indicating it would not pursue sanctions related to potential illegal filming and said it would concentrate on competing on the field of play rather than off-field controversies. The statement emphasized the federation's focus on protecting and supporting its athletes so they could compete to the best of their abilities.
According to World Curling's sweeping technique policy, umpires issue official warnings for first violations. Any subsequent violations during the same event by the same team result in stones being removed from play. If a violation occurs during a last-stone-draw delivery, the maximum distance is recorded instead.
History
4 sources