By Ben Hoppe
Before the opening ceremonies took place, the Olympic mixed doubles competition got off to an electric start.
Well, sort of. Just a few minutes into the first end of the opening draw on Wednesday evening in Cortina, all of the lights shut off as the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium experienced a power outage.
Outside of a dead bug smearing some blood on the ice in Canada's opening match against Czechia, that has been the only major hiccup thus far. Six of the thirteen round robin draws are completed, all before the Opening Ceremony for Milano Cortina 2026 officially opens the Winter Olympics on Friday. Here’s how things are stacking up nearly halfway to the playoffs.
Separating from the Pack
The United States and Great Britain have put themselves in a prime position for a podium run, starting the competition undefeated.
Great Britain tops the standings with five wins, which includes victories over the top two teams from the 2024 World Mixed Doubles Championship, Sweden and Olympic debutant Team Estonia.
It looked as though they might give up a 3-point lead in the last end against Czechia, but Jen Dodds was able to make a good freeze on her last stone to save the game.
After the win against Czechia, Bruce Mouat acknowledged he needed to step up and put his teammate in better positions.
“We’re exactly where we wanted to be at this stage,” Mouat told BBC Sport on Thursday, “But we’ve got some tough games in which I need to help Jen out a bit by performing better.”
The United States had a bye in the first draw and had to battle to get their win against Norway, never leading the game until the final stone came to rest as they stole the victory.
Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin put it all together on Friday morning against Canada. With Snoop Dogg in the house, seated next to Korey’s mom, Shelley Dropkin, the United States secured a massive victory over Canada.
Defending against the power play has been a key to the USA’s success in the first half of round robin play.
Defending against the power play, Thiesse and Dropkin have forced opponents to one point in every game. With the power play, they have scored at least 2 points.
Italy and Canada are both set up well heading into Friday’s Opening Ceremony with a 3-1 record.
While Canada’s first loss came at the hands of the United States, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant also handed Italy its lone loss of the event. That victory ended the 22-game winning streak of Italy’s Constantini and Mosaner on Thursday night. The loss to Canada was the only time the Italian crowd had been quieted. Already, in some of the early draws, we have seen teams struggle to hear each other or communicate after made shots by the 2022 Olympic gold medalists.
Canada, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States were the popular picks to medal, and while they are set up well with seven draws left to go, a lot can change as these teams play each other. Four games still remain among the top four teams. Great Britain makes up three of those four games, having yet to play any of the top teams.
Still In the Hunt
Any team with more than three losses is very likely going to be eliminated from contention. The top four teams would need to lose games to teams in the bottom six to open the door for another country to edge in. Switzerland is the only other team in the field with fewer than three losses, but they still have games against Great Britain and Canada remaining.
Norway had the toughest draw to begin the competition. They were the only team to play in all three first-round draws, and in those draws, they faced Great Britain, the USA, and Canada. They rebounded from their winless start by thumping Sweden on Friday, but Norway, along with 3-loss Sweden and Estonia, need to win out to have a chance at the medal games.
We should be in for a treat the rest of the way with more electric games to come from the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.
