The mixed doubles curling tournament at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics opened on February 4 with competitive matches disrupted by a brief power failure at the Olympic Ice Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Great Britain secured an 8-6 victory over Norway, while Canada defeated the Czech Republic 10-5 and Sweden beat South Korea 10-3 in an early-ended game. Italy's defending champions started strong the following day with an 8-4 win against South Korea.
The 2026 Winter Olympics' mixed doubles curling event, featuring teams from 10 countries, kicked off two days before the opening ceremony on February 6. The round-robin tournament runs from February 4 to 9, with the top four teams advancing to semifinals, followed by bronze and gold medal games on February 10.
On the first day, February 4, action halted four minutes in due to a power outage at the historic Olympic Ice Stadium, built for the 1956 Games. Lights flickered and dimmed, pausing all four matches for about three to four minutes before resuming. Scotland's Bruce Mouat joked about the interruption: “I didn’t mind the lights going off. It was a bit of a boogie, a rave … it was like a nightclub.”
Great Britain's Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, 2021 world champions, edged Norway's Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten 8-6 in a rematch of their 2022 Olympic semifinal. Dodds noted the challenging ice: “It was a very back-and-forth game. It took us a minute to figure out one side of the ice was curling more than the other. We took the other side and had a lot better control.” Canada’s husband-and-wife duo Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant won 10-5 against the Czech Republic's Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky. Sweden's siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wranå defeated South Korea's Kim Seon-yeong and Jeong Yeong-seok 10-3, but officials ended the match early, mistakenly thinking seven ends were complete despite South Korea's apparent desire to continue.
The next day, February 5, Italy's reigning Olympic and world champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner beat South Korea 8-4, taking control in the second end to lead 6-1 at halftime. Mosaner said: “To win is always good, especially the first win of the tournament. It wasn’t easy to play because the ice was a little bit tricky with the speed. It was really amazing to hear from the fans chanting ‘Italia, Italia, Italia.’” The United States' Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse, 2023 world champions, came from behind to defeat Norway 8-6. Thiesse explained: “We struggled early on with our draw weight and had a really good fourth end break, refocused, talked about the different speeds and the different paths.” Great Britain continued their form with a 10-5 win over Estonia's Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill, and Sweden topped the Czech Republic 7-4.
South Korea suffered a third straight loss on February 6, dropping both matches that day, extending their tough start. The event highlights strong fields, with four of the last five mixed doubles champions competing and nine of the 20 athletes holding prior Olympic medals.
