Here's what you need to know.
What is the hammer in curling? Explaining key shot in Olympic sport originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
You'll hear a word as you watch curling during the Olympics: hammer.
It's a key to the whole competition, so it's worth knowing.
It's not an actual hammer, though. It's a term about the order of play.
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What is the hammer in curling?
The hammer is the team that gets the last shot.
Essentially, they get to drop the hammer.
It's a massive advantage. Why? Because they see the whole board.
Each team is playing with a strategy the whole time, trying to put their stones in the best position.
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When you go last, you know exactly how the board looks and know exactly which stones to try and hit out of the way.
The team that doesn't score in each end gets the hammer going forward, but if no one scores, the original team keeps the hammer.
Some sequences require a better hammer shot than others, though, so it really comes down to each match to know just how key the hammer ends up being.
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Category: General Sports
