U.S., in dramatic finish, beats Italy to reach Olympic mixed doubles curling final
· Yahoo Sports
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Korey Dropkin brought the energy, but Cory Thiesse, as she has so often this week, supplied the finish.
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In a thrilling semifinal Monday at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, the American pair beat Italy’s defending champions, Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, 9-8 to set up a gold-medal match against Sweden on Tuesday evening.
Trailing 8-7 but with the advantage of the final shot in the eighth end, Thiesse had a relatively straightforward takeout to seal the two points needed for victory, but the stakes could not have been higher.
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But Thiesse, who works as a lab technician, is engineered for moments like this. Just before she made her last shot, Dropkin slid towards her and said, “Take your time.” But he did not look remotely worried that she would miss.
The Americans in the place, and there were many, roared their approval, while Dropkin, the fire to Thiesse’s ice, punched the air. Mosaner, meanwhile, threw his broom away in disgust.
The two teams had played each other earlier on Monday in the final match of the round-robin phase. Italy won that one, 7-6, which shows just how little there was between them.
That win left both of them on six wins and three defeats, but it gave Italy the hammer in the first end of the semifinal. They took advantage to score two points, only for the Americans to hit back with two of their own. The Italians followed suit, only for the U.S. duo to score three in the fourth end. Italy then tied it up — you get the idea, it was that kind of game.
The drama ratcheted up a notch or seven in the seventh end, when it looked like Dropkin may have touched one of his stones with his foot. Like golf, you are meant to call your own fouls — or burned stones, as they are known in this sport — but the 30-year-old Bostonian said he did not think he had touched it.
The television replays suggest he did, which would’ve allowed the Italians to remove the stone, but the controversy only stoked up the crowd even more, who were then roaring “Italia, Italia, Italia!” when hometown girl Constantini threw a deft takeout to score three points and give the hosts that slender lead into the last end.
It was not enough, though, Thiesse and Dropkin can now look forward to a shot at adding an Olympic gold to the world title they won in 2023.
Trying to stop them, however, will be Swedish siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wranå, who overwhelmed the top-seeded British pair of Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, 9-3.
The Scottish duo had been almost perfect until this point, losing only one of their nine round-robin games, and that was by a single point. But they were second best throughout in this game, and even though it was 3-3 going into the sixth end, they had been hanging on.
Rasmus Wranå, in particular, just did not miss, and having scraped into the semifinals with only five wins from nine games, the 2024 world champions have certainly worked out the Cortina ice now.
“Sometimes in mixed doubles it can be difficult,” Isabella Wranå said. “You can just be off by a few centimetres. But I’m very proud of how we came back into the tournament, and we’re looking forward to the final.”
Dodds and Mouat will be bitterly disappointed but must lift themselves for the bronze-medal match against the hosts on Tuesday afternoon. They were in this spot in Beijing four years ago and were well beaten by the Swedes that time, too. They will be desperate to avoid a second straight fourth-place finish.
Thiesse and Dropkin, however, have metal of a more precious variety to play for. It should be a lot of fun.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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