The United States' Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse defeated reigning Olympic champions Italy 9-8 in the mixed doubles curling semifinals at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. Sweden's Isabella and Rasmus Wrana beat Britain 9-3 in the other semifinal, setting up a gold-medal matchup between the U.S. and Sweden on Tuesday. Canada finished out of the playoffs with a 4-5 record after beating Switzerland 8-4 in their final round-robin game.
In a thrilling semifinal at the Cortina Olympic Curling Centre, American curlers Korey Dropkin from Massachusetts and Cory Thiesse from Minnesota edged out Italy's Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini 9-8. The hosts, who won gold in Beijing 2022 and the world championships, led 8-7 entering the final end, but Dropkin's precise double take-out cleared the ice, allowing Thiesse to seal the victory with the last stone. The lively crowd chanted 'Italia' and 'USA' throughout, but the Americans held firm after Thiesse's pinpoint draw scored three points midway through the match to take the lead at 5-4. This marks the first time a U.S. mixed doubles team has reached the Olympic medal round since the event's debut in 2018, when they finished fourth. Dropkin celebrated with visible energy, saying, 'You don't see football players, basketball players, baseball players always hiding their emotions. Why not curlers, too?' Constantini acknowledged the loss, noting, 'We gave our opponents some chances and they took it... tomorrow will be another important day' in the bronze-medal match against Britain at 8:05 a.m. ET Tuesday. In the other semifinal, Swedish siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wrana dominated Britain 9-3, using a power play in the sixth end to score five points and force an early concession. Britain, skipped by Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds, had topped the round-robin standings with an 8-1 record, including a 9-6 win over Italy. Mouat and Dodds suffered their second loss of the tournament, first to Switzerland 7-6. Rasmus Wrana, a 2022 Olympic men's gold medalist, said, 'We've got to go out there tomorrow with exactly the same feeling like we had today... or even better.' The gold-medal final between the U.S. and Sweden begins at 12:05 p.m. ET Tuesday. Canada's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman, finishing 4-5 after five straight losses including to South Korea, ended on a high note with an 8-4 win over Switzerland's Yannick and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann. Gallant scored three in the seventh end and ran them out of rocks in the eighth, raising their shooting percentage to 90 percent. Gallant, who is also competing in the men's team event with Brad Jacobs starting Wednesday, said, 'It was just a good feeling because we were pretty deflated after yesterday.' Their coach Scott Pfeifer praised their professionalism, adding, 'The last thing you want to do is lose your last game.' Switzerland also ended 4-5. Mixed doubles debuted at Pyeongchang 2018, where Canada won gold with Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris.