2022 Winter Olympics: Curling rules explained

If you are watching curling at the 2022 Winter Olympics and want a better understanding of the rules, we have you covered.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are set to begin on Friday, Feb. 4, which means that there will be plenty of events on your televisions. One of the more popular events of the entire Olympics is curling. Go ahead and watch a curling match, and you will find yourself screaming “sweep” at your screen.

It is fun to watch, but what exactly are the rules for curling? These rules come courtesy of NBC Olympics.

Winter Olympics 2022: Curling rules, explained

First things first, the event features two teams of four players facing off. The goal is simple, to get the 42-pound stone closest to the center of the circles, or better known as the tee. To get a point, the team’s stone will have to be closer to the tee than their opponent’s best stone. Granted, it must be within six feet of the tee.

In the men’s and women’s tournaments, the curling match consists of 10 ends, where each team will deliver eight stones, two per person. Meanwhile, mixed double teams play eight ends with each team playing five stones each along with one stone that is pre-placed.

Men’s and women’s teams have a set order of delivery. The first person is called the lead, followed by the second, the vice-skip (third) and finally the skip, which is the leader of the team. The lead on both teams alternate throws until each has used their two stones. From there, it goes to seconds, then vice-skips and finally skips.

In mixed teams, one player delivers the first and fifth stones, while the other delivers the second, third and fourth stones.

Whoever scores points in an end gets to shoot first on the following end. The team that does not score points shoots last, which is called “the hammer.” If no team scores points in an end, then the team that shot last in the previous end does so again.

The team with the most points once all ends have been completed are the winners. If there is a tie, an extra end will be played, with the winner being whoever scores points first.

Curling rules: Playing surface

The playing surface is a total of 150-feet long and 16-feet, five-inches wide. On opposite ends of the surface is the house, which consists of four concentric circles. The outer edge of the outer circle has a six-foot radius. The next circle has a radius of four feet, followed by the next circle of two feet. Finally is the inner circle, which has a radius of six inches.

Players begin moving their stone from the hack, which is a rubber block. They slide the stone forward by pushing from the back, before letting it go just ahead of the hog line 33-feet away.

Between the hog line and the tee line located 93-feet away is the free guard zone. Here is a full explanation of the Free Guard Zone and the rules, via the NBC Olympics official website:

"No stone in this area may be removed from play by the opposition until the first four stones in an end have come to rest. Players are allowed to bump other stones with shots, but are not allowed to knock a stone out of play.Any shot played when the Free Guard Zone rule is in effect that results in an opposition stone being knocked out of play is an infraction. In this case the played stone is removed from play and any other stone that was moved is replaced. For any stone lying within the house, normal rules apply at all times.This rule was enacted in 1991 to hinder defense-oriented play. In the past, teams would knock out one another’s rocks repeatedly resulting in low scoring games that were boring to many spectators."

Curling rules: Sweeping

Players sweep the ice ahead of the stone for two purposes. One, it removes debris from the ice that would slow down the stone. Two, it melts a thin layer of ice that will reduce friction and allow the stone to travel further.

Sweeping is allowed for any player on the throwing team between the two tee lines. Sweeping opposing stones is off-limits. At the playing end, one player is allowed to sweep. That can be anyone on the delivering team, or the vice-skip, or skip on the non-delivery team.

The most important thing about sweeping is that only moving stones can be swept. That can be stones thrown or stones that are sent moving by other stones.

For additional rules, such as power play, violations and player substitution, you can check them out on the NBC Olympics official website.