Duluth is returning to the Olympic curling medal podium, and taking the United States with it.
The Duluth Curling Club team of Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse knocked Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse guaranteed the U.S. its first Olympic medal in mixed doubles curling, reaching the final Monday with a 9-8 victory over defending champion Italy.
Thiesse was on target for a takeout on the final throw of the game, which ejected the closest Italian stone, netted the U.S. two points and sent them into the gold medal game Tuesday at 11 a.m. CST vs. Sweden.
United States’ Korey Dropkin competes, during the semi-finals round of the mixed doubles curling match against Italy, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
“We just kept making shots, countering their makes. We got a big opportunity in that sixth end and my all-star here capitalized,” Dropkin said in a postgame interview with NBC. “Oh, my gosh, what a day. We’re going for gold.”
The U.S. and Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner played Monday morning in the final match of the round-robin, and in that instance it was Constantini who had the walk-off shot for a 7-6 victory in a game the US trailed 6-2 after five ends.
In the evening semifinal, before another partisan crowd, it was the Americans who were the better squad. Thiesse was rated at 92% accuracy, while both Italians were at or below 75%. However, Constantini delivered on the last shot of several ends to get her team out of trouble.
The U.S. achieved its first lead when Thiesse used a deft touch to complete a score of three for a 5-4 lead to complete the fourth end. After that, momentum shifted further in their favor as Italy got into big trouble in end five. Constantini bailed them out to claim a single point, but the Americans now had the advantage, which they pressed to score two more points in the sixth.
That lasted until the seventh and penultimate end, when a U.S. mistake failed to clear out enough Italian stones and left the defending champions an open hit for three points and the lead.
Still, going to the eighth, the Americans had the last throw advantage and the “power play,” a situation unique to mixed doubles curling in which each team gets one chance to pre-position stones to its advantage.
“I was shaking a little bit, but the whole end I knew Korey was going to put me in a position to have a shot to win the game,” Thiesse said. “I was just getting ready for that and visualizing that. When the rock came to a stop, I just knew that we had it. Korey gave me a ton of confidence, and I knew we weren’t missing it.”
The U.S. deployed its power play in the final end, shifting the action out of the middle and to the throwers’ right wing. With her last throw, Constantini knocked the closest American stone out of the rings but hit it too square to roll to a covered position alongside the others.
That gave Thiesse an opening to execute a similar shot. Hers did roll to the outside, giving American fans a nervous moment for a second, but it jammed against an Italian stone and remained in play to clinch the win.
In the post-game interview Dropkin noted that the result guarantees that Thiesse will be the first American woman to win a medal in Olympic curling, which has been in the Games since 1998. She also is a member of the U.S. women’s team, which begins play on Thursday against South Korea.
This marks the third time an American team has medaled in Olympic competition. In 2006, Pete Fenson’s bronze-winning men’s rink included John Shuster of the Duluth Curling Club, while Shuster skipped the 2018 Olympic champions in Pyeongchang.
Which medal Thiesse and Dropkin will earn is to be decided Tuesday. Team Sweden siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wrana delivered a stunning 9-3 rout in the other semifinal against a Great Britain team that had dominated the round-robin phase of the competition. The US defeated Sweden by an 8-7 score in the penultimate round-robin game on Sunday night.
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