Team USA beat Canada 7-5 on Friday to remain undefeated in round-robin play of mixed doubles curling in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. It is the best start by any U.S. curling team in Olympic history.
As rapper and Team USA superfan Snoop Dogg looked on from the stands, the team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin topped Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman in a tight matchup.
Advertisement
The U.S. went behind 1-0 after the first end, but scored three points over the next two ends for a 3-1 lead. Canada would earn two points in the fourth end to even the score at three.
The drama continued with the teams exchanging points in the fifth and sixth ends to keep the score tied.
With the U.S. holding the hammer in the seventh end, Dropkin scored three points on the final throw to reclaim the lead and go up 7-4 heading into the eighth and final end.
With Thiesse and Dropkin knowing what they needed to do to preserve the lead, Gallant and Peterman could only muster a single point, giving the Americans the victory and dropping Canada to 3-1.
Advertisement
The match was the first of two on Friday for the U.S. (3-0), who will next meet winless Czechia (0-3) at 8:35 a.m. ET.
Neither country medaled in this event in Beijing in 2022, with Canada finishing fifth and the U.S. placing eighth overall. Canada won gold at the inaugural mixed doubles competition at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.
