American curlers Thiesse and Dropkin earn spot in Milan-Cortina Olympic mixed doubles field
Americans Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin clinched a berth in the 2026 Olympic mixed doubles curling competition when they beat Canada 8-4 at the world championships in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on Saturday to earn a fifth-place finish that was enough for a spot in Milan-Cortina.
It will be the first Olympics for Dropkin, who was runner-up to five-time Olympian and 2018 gold medalist John Shuster at the U.S. men's trials for each of the last two Winter Games. Thiesse was an alternate for Nina Roth's women's team in Pyeongchang in 2018.
'It's a huge relief,' Thiesse told the CBC. 'This has been the goal, the dream, for both of us for so long and we both worked so hard for it. To be playing together and be such good friends, and just do it together is really, really exciting.'
Thiesse and Dropkin won the U.S. mixed doubles trials this winter to earn the right to represent the country at the world championships in Canada. But the Americans needed to finish at least fifth in Fredericton to qualify for the Olympics.
After beating Canada on Saturday, Thiesse and Dropkin had to wait out Scotland's 9-6 win over Australia in another placement match to clinch a trip to Italy.
'We felt like we were in control of our own destiny with our Olympics so let's just give it our all,' Thiesse said. 'We felt like we did that today.'
The U.S. Olympic trials for the men's and women's curling teams are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in November.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
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