Britain's Bobby Lammie in action during the men's curling round robin session against Germany, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO — The curling controversy at the Winter Olympics widened Sunday as increased surveillance of the matches resulted in the removal of a stone thrown by the British men’s team for the same alleged violation that burned the Canadians two days in a row.

In the ninth end of Britain’s round-robin game against Germany, officials said Scottish curler Bobby Lammie had touched a stone after releasing it down the ice. Such “double-touching” is against the rules. Britain won the match 9-4. Until Sunday, the allegations had been limited to Canadian curlers, who represent one of the world’s most fervent fan bases.

The controversy began Friday night with an allegation against the Canadian men by their Swedish opponents; a day later, a stone was removed from the Canadian women’s match against Switzerland. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show both Canadian curlers double-touching the rocks but both teams denied wrongdoing.

On Saturday, World Curling directed two umpires to move between the four matches during each round, monitoring play. That policy was in place when violations were called on Lammie and Canada’s Rachel Homan.

But the federation backpedaled on Sunday night, announcing that it would keep the two umpires who had been monitoring the games available at teams’ request — but that they would not be sent to monitor games by default.

Some curlers said the double-touching infraction had never been called out with this level of intensity in past competitions and it can be difficult to tell if someone is guilty of it. World Curling does not use video replays for reviewing penalties during games.

Curlers are split over introducing video replays

Olympic curlers had varying opinions on whether umpires — like those in other sports — should begin using video replays to adjudicate disputes or verify calls.

“If they bring that in, I think it probably disrupts the speed of play,” said Johanna Heldin, the alternate for the Swedish women’s team. “We’ve always been a game that tries to play by the rules and have that high sportsmanship level, so hopefully we can figure that back out.”

U.S. women’s curlers had a different view. Tara Peterson said she’d “absolutely” support video replay.

“There’s instances where an instant replay would be huge,” she said.

“I feel like there’s a lot of other sports that do it,” said her sister, skip Tabitha Peterson.

Klaebo gets No. 9

Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won his ninth gold medal, setting a Winter Games record.

The 29�’year�’old anchored Sunday’s 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay in cross-country skiing for his fourth gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics. He had shared the record with three retired Norwegian athletes. He now stands alone at the top.

Shiffrin hopeful

Italian skier Federica Brignone captured her second gold medal in four days at her home Winter Olympics by winning the women’s giant slalom.

Mikaela Shiffrin finished off the podium again.

The 35-year-old Brignone won the super-G on Thursday for her first gold at an Olympics. She led Sunday after the first run of the giant slalom and finished 0.62 seconds ahead of defending champion Sara Hector of Sweden and Thea Louise Stjernesund of Norway following the second run.

Shiffrin sees her 11th-place finish as proof she is back in the fight. The 30-year-old believes she took a step forward after a shaky performance during the slalom portion of the women’s combined earlier in the Games.

The gap between Shiffrin and the podium was just 0.3 seconds, which she said is a sign she’s starting to regain speed in an event that left her shaken following a frightening crash in late 2024. Next up for Shiffrin is the slalom, her strongest event.

Vonn can return

Lindsey Vonn said the latest surgery on her left leg that she broke in the Olympic downhill “went well” and now she “will be able to finally go back to the U.S.” The 41-year-old Vonn is being treated at a hospital in Treviso, Italy.