The United States mixed doubles curling team delivered when it mattered most on Day 5 of competition at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, securing two crucial victories to punch its ticket to the semifinals for the first time in Olympic history.
Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin began Sunday needing a win to keep their medal hopes alive, and they responded with a hard-fought 5–3 victory over Estonia that snapped a two-game losing streak in Cortina.
The matchup was tight from the start, with both teams trading forced single points through the first five ends. In the sixth, the Americans had an opportunity to break the game open. Sitting two stones in scoring position, Thiesse attempted a hammer takeout to remove Estonia’s lone rock in the eight-foot. The shot clipped a guard and never reached the house, forcing the U.S. to settle for one point and a 3–3 tie with two ends remaining.
Team USA took control in the seventh end. With the Americans holding shot stone on the button, Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee narrowly missed a hammer takeout, allowing the U.S. to steal a point and take a 4–3 lead. The eighth end played out in similar fashion, as Estonia again missed a takeout attempt on the American shot stone, giving the U.S. another steal and sealing the victory.
With momentum on their side, Thiesse and Dropkin returned to the ice later in the day and delivered an even more dramatic performance, defeating Sweden 8–7 to officially clinch a semifinal berth.
Sweden jumped out quickly, scoring three points in the opening end. The Americans answered immediately in the second, capitalizing on a partially successful Swedish double-takeout attempt. Thiesse calmly delivered the final stone into the house to tie the game 3–3.
The U.S. took its first lead in the fourth end. With Sweden holding a single scoring stone, Thiesse executed a takeout to swing the score to 6–4 at the halfway mark. Both Americans were nearly flawless early, shooting 100 percent through four ends.
Sweden battled back and stole a point in the seventh to even the game 7–7, setting up a decisive final end with the U.S. holding hammer.
Facing pressure in the eighth, Sweden briefly controlled the house with three stones in scoring position. Dropkin called timeout, then delivered the shot of the match — a perfectly executed triple takeout that cleared all three Swedish stones. The Americans then removed Sweden’s next two attempts. On the final shot, Sweden’s Isabella Wrana attempted a freeze on the button, but the stone sailed past the American shot rock, giving the U.S. the winning point.
Dropkin finished with 11 takeouts, and the American duo shot 82 percent overall in the victory.
The win improved Team USA’s record to 6–2 in round-robin play, clinching a historic semifinal appearance — the program’s first since mixed doubles curling debuted at the Olympics in 2018.
Thiesse and Dropkin will close out round-robin competition against defending gold medalist Italy on Monday, while Sweden finished its schedule at 5–4.
After a challenging stretch earlier in the tournament, the Americans found their form at exactly the right time — and now they are just two wins away from an Olympic medal.
