CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Sweden’s brother-and-sister team of Isabella and Rasmus Wranå won gold in mixed doubles curling at the Milan Cortina Olympics, beating the United States’ Duluth duo in the final on Tuesday night.
The Wranås won 6-5 over Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, who became the first Americans to medal in Olympic mixed doubles. Thiesse is the first American woman to medal in Olympic curling.
The Wranå siblings grew up as rivals and were coached by their father, Mats Wranå. They’re Sweden’s first sibling team at the Olympics.
The championship game was agonizingly close, with the Swedes pouncing on an opening left by the Americans in the last end.
Throughout the match, the Wranås enjoyed a somewhat silent camaraderie with their small contingent of fans. The two remained stoic while Dropkin played to the crowd, whipping up the loud American supporters.
The Wranås won the world title in 2024. Dropkin and Thiesse won at worlds a year earlier.
The Swedish duo started their Olympic bid on stumbly legs, losing three games in a row in the round robin. The skid prompted the Swedish media to label their Olympic bid a “Curlingfiasko.”
But they soon managed to turn it around, winning most of their remaining matches.
It was a heartbreaker for the Americans, who enjoyed roaring support. An American curler screamed from the rafters, “Show me your biceps!” Dropkin obliged.
Dropkin and Thiesse are based in Duluth, Minnesota, and have full-time jobs. Thiesse is a lab technician and Dropkin a real estate agent. Dropkin is engaged and Thiesse is married.
They were classmates in college. Dropkin asked Thiesse to be his mixed doubles partner after a failed qualification run for the Beijing 2022 Games. She agreed and they were world champions a year later.
Italy wins bronze
Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner won bronze, defeating Britain 5-3.
It was a bittersweet result for the Italians, the defending Olympic champions whose fans packed the stands throughout the round-robin in hopes to see a repeat. And it was devastating for the Brits, Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, who were expected to make the final after exiting the round-robin with the most wins of any pair.
They faltered against exacting throws from Mosaner and Constantini, who hails from Cortina and has become a darling of this stadium. The British duo walked off the ice dejected.
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