By Aadi Nair
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 (Reuters) – A nerveless display from Isabella Wranaa helped Sweden to win mixed doubles curling gold medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics by beating the United States 6-5 on Tuesday.
Sweden are the second-most successful nation in curling at the Winter Olympics, but they had never previously won the top prize in mixed doubles, with Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson’s bronze in 2022 their best previous effort in the format.
After limiting the United States pair of Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse to one point in the first end, Wranaa and her brother Rasmus, the 2024 world champions, took a 2-1 lead when Isabella deftly nestled a stone against another on the button.
The pairs traded a point apiece in the next two ends to leave Sweden 3-2 up at the halfway mark.
In identical fashion to their 9-3 win over Britain in the semi-final, Sweden deployed their powerplay with the score level at 3-3 in the sixth end.
However, unlike Monday’s match, in which they grabbed a game-winning five points, the tactic yielded just the one point and the U.S. hit back with two in the penultimate end to take a 5-4 lead.
MOMENTUM SHIFTING
The momentum seemed to be shifting in favour of the U.S. but Dropkin and Thiesse both slightly overcooked shots before the ever-reliable Isabella Wranaa sealed the win with a takeout on the final stone.
“I think it’s a perfect shot for me to have (last one), a take out. But of course you’re nervous. Because it’s the last shot,” said Wranaa.
“And you know if you make it, it’s an Olympic gold. But I felt like we kept calm. We talked about how we’re going to throw it. I knew that I had a really strong sweeper. So it felt good.”
The Wranaas’ victory moves Sweden level with Canada on 12 total medals, though Canada have one more gold.
The gold is Rasmus’s second, after he won the men’s competition in Beijing as the second on Niklas Edin’s team, whom he will link up with on Wednesday ahead of their match against Italy.
FIRST U.S. MIXED DOUBLES MEDAL
The silver medal was also the first for the U.S. in mixed doubles, which was added to the Olympic programme in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
“We’re so proud of what we’ve been able to achieve here. Day one walking into this event there’s 10 great teams out there that could have been on the podium and just so proud of how we hung in there every game,” Dropkin said.
“Every game was a battle. Hats off to Team Sweden. Rasmus and Isabella are amazing curlers, great people, good friends of ours.
“They showed up, made the right shots at the right time. We’re going to celebrate the silver medal because it’s a big accomplishment for USA Curling.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Italy’s Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini saw out a tense 5-3 win over Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat to add the bronze medal to their gold from four years ago.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair; editing by Clare Fallon and Pritha Sarkar)
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