By Ben Hoppe, U.S. curling writer
For a moment in May, it looked like the United States might not have any guaranteed spots at the 2026 Winter Olympics. After the women’s and men’s teams both struggled at their respective world championships, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin needed some help at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in New Brunswick.
Thiesse and Dropkin won a fifth-place ranking match over Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant. A few minutes later, Scotland defeated Australia in the semifinals, giving the United States a one-point advantage over Australia to secure a spot at the Olympics and avoid a trip to the Olympic Qualifying Event.
With at least one team guaranteed to compete on the biggest stage in curling, did USA Curling CEO Dean Gemmell breathe a sigh of relief?
“I’m not going to say I didn’t,” Gemmell said.
Nothing is guaranteed at an Olympic Qualifying Event, no matter the quality of your team, and should Thiesse and Dropkin have failed to qualify in May, the future would look incredibly uncertain.
Even so, as Tabitha Peterson and Danny Casper prepare for Kelowna, B.C., in their attempt to snag the final team slots in Italy, the potential impact of qualification has to be taken into consideration.
The Winter Olympics are a vital aspect of the growth of curling in the United States. Gemmell noted that nationwide club membership has historically grown by an average of 10 per cent in a post-Olympic year.
It’s not uncommon for clubs to see that major surge of growth followed by a plateau or slight decrease over the final years of a quadrennial, with the cycle repeating every four years.
And if a team competes for a medal? The growth should, in theory, be even more pronounced with the spotlight lingering on the Roaring Game that much longer.
POST-2018 GROWTH COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
When Team Shuster defied expectations and made their Cinderella run to gold in 2018, people throughout the curling landscape predicted unprecedented growth in the country.
To a degree, they were right. Rocket City Curling Club of Huntsville, Ala., started at a hockey arena in 2018 and has plans in place for a dedicated curling facility to open in 2027. Other curling facilities are planned in Santa Ana, Calif., and Dallas. Curling rinks in other non-traditional environments like Kansas City and Las Vegas have opened their doors.
Just as in Cinderella, the carriage of the 2018 Olympics turned back into a pumpkin eventually. Despite some growth, which can be clearly linked to the 2018 Olympics, it could have been better.
"I feel like we might have been able to capitalize on that more than we did,” said Gemmell, who officially took over as CEO of USA Curling in 2023.
How much USA Curling and clubs across the country can capitalize on another Winter Olympics may depend on the results of the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Event, which begins Friday at the Kelowna Curling Club.
Should both Peterson and Casper fail to qualify, curling will likely become much less of a fixture across NBC’s Olympics coverage for the second half of the games. Whether there could be other implications for the national governing body would remain to be seen.
So far, Gemmell has remained confident in the organization’s relationship with sponsors, who are aware of the situation regarding Olympic qualification.
“Our sponsors are super supportive. They haven't done anything to back off their support of curling," he said.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, however, has reduced funding this year, with just one team qualified for the Games thus far across the three events.
“They fund medal prospects,” Gemmell said. “Until we’re in the Games, they’re not going to give us as much money.”
While the money is no small thing, the exposure of curling on sport’s biggest stage is more valuable. The United States is fertile ground for curling, with clubs and communities across the country showcasing how quickly the sport can take off, even in non-traditional communities.
Securing that important exposure for the full length of the Winter Olympics lies in the hands of Team Peterson and Team Casper as they compete for the right to earn Olympic glory. Success in Kelowna will not only check a meaningful box for those teams, but it will also be vital for the continued growth we’ve so often seen every four years.
