The United States mixed doubles curling team of Duluthians Cory Theisse and Korey Dropkin couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2026 Winter Olympics, knocking off Norway and Switzerland in their first two round-robin matches on Thursday.

After sitting out the first session on Wednesday night, Thiesse and Dropkin survived to defeat Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten 8-6 on Thursday morning.

Though mixed doubles games are often very open, with both sides being in a position to score, the team with the last shot, known as the “hammer,” was the team that scored in each of the first seven ends.

On the last rock of the seventh, Thiesse’s shot ejected one Norway stone and nudged another out of the way to give the United States two points, but being unable to get rid of the second Norway stone entirely meant that the game went to the eighth and final end tied, with Norway holding the hammer.

However, Norway made multiple errors in the final end. Thiesse’s last shot came up short, giving the Norwegians an opportunity to supplant two American stones at the center of the rings, but Skaslien’s shot did not curl enough. The Americans stole two points — and the win — from a duo that has medaled in both 2018 and 2022.

Thiesse and Dropkin were the better side against Switzerland’s Briar Schwaller-Hurlimann and Yannick Schwaller by a significant margin.

The Americans stole points without the hammer in the first and fourth ends for a 5-2 lead at the halfway point.

A missed takeout by Schwaller-Hurlimann allowed Thiesse to make an open draw to the button (the center of the rings) for two more points in the sixth end. The Swiss scored only one in the seventh and conceded the match early in the eighth when they ran out of possible stones.

The Americans still have seven more round-robin matches ahead of them, with two more on Friday. The U.S. was scheduled to play Canada (one of two other undefeated teams so far) at 3:05 a.m. CST, then Czechia at 7:35 a.m. CST.

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