 The United States' Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin (Photo: USA Curling) kicked off their Olympic campaign on Thursday with two big wins against European powerhouses. By Cameron Sallaj The 2023 world championship duo of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin had a dream start to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Games. After not playing in the opening draw Wednesday night, the pair took to the ice Thursday for their first two round robin matches against Norway's Skaslien / Nedregotten and Switzerland Schwaller-Hurlimann / Schwaller. In the morning draw, the Americans had a back-and-forth game with 2022 Olympic silver and 2018 Olympic bronze medalists Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten. After the Norwegians took two in the fourth for a two-point lead, Thiesse and Dropkin got two back in the seventh to tie the game at six-all. Then in the last end, the pair stole two when Norway couldn't navigate their final stone into scoring position, securing a first win for the pair. The second draw of the day saw "Team Cory & Korey" go up against Briar Schwaller-Hurlimann and Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland, a team that also won their opening game 9-7 over Estonia. From the onset, the USA took control of the match, stealing one in the opening end and two more in the fourth to lead 5-2 at the break. Switzerland then only managed singles in the fifth and seventh, with Thiesse and Dropkin adding two more in the sixth and running the Swiss side out of rocks in the eighth end. This gave the team a strong 7-4 win and now positions them at the top of the standings heading into Day 3 of competition. Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin first joined forces for the quadrennial in the 2022-23 season and had a dream start, winning the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Gangneung, Korea. Since then, the team have continued to build, winning several tour events and the United States Olympic Mixed Doubles Trials in February 2025. At last year's World Championship, they finished in fifth place, enough to secure direct qualification to the Milano-Cortina Games. So far this year, the pair have continued to be at the top of their game, winning the Saville Mixed Doubles Classic, the Gothenburg Mixed Doubles Cup and the Victoria Mixed Doubles Cash Spiel. They also competed in the Kitchener-Waterloo Mixed Doubles Super Series where they lost just one game, the championship final. With a 24-2 record on the season, Thiesse and Dropkin are one of the favorites to make a deep run at this year's Games and challenge for a medal at the end of the week. Olympic Mixed Doubles Standings - Draw 3 The United States (Thiesse/Dropkin): 2-0 Great Britain (Dodds/Mouat): 2-0 Sweden (Wrana/Wrana): 2-0 Canada (Peterman/Gallant): 2-0 Italy (Constantini/Mosaner): 1-0 Switzerland (Schwaller-Hurlimann/Schwaller): 1-1 South Korea (Kim/Jeong): 0-2 Czechia (Zelingrova/Chabicovsky): 0-2 Estonia (Kaldvee/Lill): 0-2 Norway (Skaslien/Nedregotten): 0-3 |
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Manitoba's Kate Cameron (Photo: Curling Canada) announced on Monday that the team will look different for the new Olympic quadrennial.
