Minnesotans help U.S. women's curling team earn Olympics berth

Tabitha Peterson and her teammates got one job done Friday, when they made the playoffs at the world women's curling championships and qualified the U.S. for the 2022 Olympics. They brought home a little something extra when the championships ended Sunday, beating Sweden 9-5 to earn the bronze medal.

Peterson, of Minneapolis, skipped her team to a big seventh end to overcome an early deficit at WinSport Arena in Calgary, Alberta. Sweden, the 2018 Olympic gold medalists, led 4-2 when a missed shot put the U.S. in position to score five. Peterson's run-back take-out vaulted the U.S. to a 7-4 lead, and Swede n conceded after the ninth end.

The team includes two other Minnesotans, Tara Peterson of Eagan and Aileen Geving of Duluth, along with Nina Roth and Becca Hamilton. The medal was the first for the American women at a world championships since a silver in 2006.

"We had a good, hard-fought week," Tabitha Peterson told worldcurling.org. "It feels really good to end on a win and finish things off. We just tried to do all the little things to make sure we took care of everything and left it all out there on the ice."

Peterson's team finished in fifth place in the round robin portion of the championships with a 7-6 record. The top six teams made the playoffs and qualified for the Olympics. Another Minnesota skip, John Shuster, earned an Olympic berth for the U.S. men by reaching the playoffs at last month's men's world championships.