The United States team of Minnesotans Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin suffered its first setbacks of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Saturday, defeated 6-4 by Great Britain and 6-5 in an extra end by South Korea in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.
The afternoon loss to the British team wasn’t necessarily surprising, as Team GB is undefeated and now already qualified for the semifinals with two matches to spare. However, the Korea game required a highly complicated shot in the eighth end just to force an extra end against a team that lost its first five games by a combined score of 43-18.
Still, the Americans (4-2) are tied for second in the 10-team field with three matches to go and control their own destiny toward making the semifinals on Monday night.
The Great Britain game started badly, as the Americans needed to do damage control to prevent their opponents from scoring more than two in the first end, and then gave up a steal of one.
Thiesse, who had the best shooting percentage of any player over the first three days of competition, made a great shot for three to tie the game in the fifth end.
The British regained the lead with one in the sixth and extended it after Thiesse’s attempted double takeout hit at the wrong angle to conclude end seven and gave them a steal of one.
With the penultimate stone in the eighth, Dropkin went for a big takeout to remove all or some of four British stones in the scoring area and missed wide, leading to their eventual concession.
In the evening match against Korea, the US fell behind in similar fashion, allowing a point in the first and a steal of one in the second.
In a low-scoring game, the Americans went to the eighth end down 5-2. With the last stone of regulation, Thiesse triggered a three-part collision that netted the Americans the points they needed to tie it but one Korean stone remained just close enough to prevent a walk-off win for Team USA.
The Koreans had the hammer in the extra end and after Thiesse’s last stone went too deep, Korea had a simple shot down the middle to score the winning point and earn their first win in the tournament.
The Americans will regroup for a 7:35 a.m. CST match vs. 2-4 Estonia, to be followed by what could be a vital matchup with 4-3 Sweden at 12:05 p.m. CST.
With two-thirds of the round-robin complete, the US has a full-game lead over fifth-place Switzerland and Canada, both teams Thiesse and Dropkin have defeated. The round-robin concludes Monday morning in Italy with Thiesse and Dropkin facing defending champions Italy.
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