The U.S. men's curling team secured an 8-5 victory over defending Olympic gold medalists Sweden on Sunday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. This win, part of a double-header that also included a 10-8 triumph over Norway, improved the young American squad to 4-2 and tied them for third in round-robin standings. The top four teams advance to the semifinals.
In the round-robin match held in Cortina, Italy, the U.S. team, led by skip Danny Casper and consisting of players all under 27 years old, demonstrated poise against Sweden's veteran lineup captained by Niklas Edin. The Americans, the youngest men's team in the tournament, took control early. They seized a 4-2 lead in the fourth end after Edin missed a takeout attempt, throwing his stone through the house, allowing Casper to draw to the button for three points.
Team USA extended the advantage with one point in the sixth end and stole another in the seventh via an aggressive runback by Casper, pushing the score to 6-3. Sweden responded with two points in the eighth, but the U.S. countered with two more in the ninth. In the tenth end, Casper's takeout on the seventh stone forced Sweden to concede, securing the win. The Americans recorded 39 takeouts at an 84 percent success rate, with Casper achieving 14 and Luc Violette 13.
"We know all of these teams are really good. We know we can beat any of these teams, and we're here to win," said U.S. curler Ben Richardson. "This is a pretty surreal experience, but I'm very grateful to be here."
Sweden, now 1-4 after struggling with the ice, saw Oskar Eriksson note the need for improvement: "We've just got to figure out the ice faster tomorrow... We'll just focus on our part and that's winning the next four games."
Later that day, the U.S. edged Norway 10-8 in a tense finish, where Casper's runback in the tenth end clinched two points for the victory. This marks the best U.S. start in men's curling at the Olympics since 2006, when the team went 5-1 through six games en route to bronze. The last U.S. gold came in 2018. Team USA, including Aidan Oldenburg and alternate Rich Ruohonen, has Monday off before facing China on Tuesday.
