The qualification period for mixed doubles curling is swept, sealed and delivered, as the last two countries — Czechia and South Korea — clinched Winter Olympic berths to compete in Milan Cortina. Results from the past week’s Olympic Qualification Event (OQE) in Kelowna, Canada determined the final 10-rink field.

Headlining the 2026 Games, the third to feature mixed doubles, is defending Olympic gold medalists Italy. Estonia will make its Olympic debut in the event, and appearing once again are 2022 bronze medalist Sweden, 2022 silver medalist Norway, 2018 gold medalist Canada, 2018 silver medalist Switzerland, Great Britain, the United States, Czechia and South Korea.

Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse, also known as "Korey and Cory," will represent the United States. Dropkin is the skip of Team Dropkin, who won the men’s national championship earlier this year, and Thiesse sweeps for Team Peterson, the women’s squad that will compete in Milan Cortina. 

The Duluth, Minnesota-based curlers, who live less than three miles away from each other, became teammates shortly after the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Dropkin asked his long-time friend Thiesse to join him for dinner so he could “pop the question.”

“I had never actually really thought about playing mixed doubles with Korey,” Thiesse revealed. “But I was like ‘oh absolutely, this totally makes sense. Let’s give it try.’”

The duo quickly found success, winning nationals in 2023 and then a world championship — the first ever for the U.S. — a little over a month later. Earlier this year, they won nationals again, which also served as a team trials event. They went on to compete in the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships and placed fifth. The results were good enough to qualify them for the 2026 Winter Games.

“I've been dreaming about this moment my whole life,” Dropkin said. “Since I was 10 years old, watching the Olympics and watching USA win the bronze medal at Torino. Now we get to go back to Italy 20 years later. I'm a realtor, so I term it my 20-year mortgage.”

Korey and Cory are contenders to medal, but will face stiff competition. Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, the Italian rink, are particularly tough. As a team, they’re perfect, having never lost in international play. 

They went 11-0 in their 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic gold medal run and three years later, posted another sparkling 11-0 record to win the World Championships. They are the prohibitive favorites heading into February, especially on home ice. Constantini is from Cortina d'Ampezzo, the town where the mixed doubles event will be held.

Mixed doubles curling begins Feb. 4 with round-robin play and concludes with the medal games on Feb. 10. The men’s event gets underway Feb. 11 and the women take the ice on Feb. 12. Those medal games start Feb. 20. All the action will stream live on Peacock.