Team Dwyer/Emt scored two clutch points in the ninth end to defeat Team Ricker/Samsa, 9-7, in the Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Trials finals. With the win, the duo officially punched their tickets to the 2026 Winter Paralympics. 

Much like Game 1, the reigning national champions racked up points early in Game 2, jumping out to a 7-1 lead through four ends. Facing elimination, Ricker/Samsa stormed all the way back, outscoring their opponents 6-0 in the next four ends to tie things up. However, Dwyer/Emt had the hammer in the ninth end and didn’t waste the opportunity. They collected a pair of points and the victory.

Earlier this year, Laura Dwyer and Steve Emt won the Wheelchair Mixed Doubles National Championship, earning them the opportunity to represent the U.S. at the 2025 World Championships. They placed ninth, and in the process, landed the country a 2026 Winter Paralympics bid. From there, USA Curling (the sport's governing body) needed to determine which national team to send to Milan Cortina. 

By placing first and second at a pre-Trials event in September, Team Dwyer/Emt and Team Ricker/Samsa were the two rinks (out of eight competing) to advance to the Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.

The Trials victory was a historic one for Dwyer/Emt. They clinched a berth in the 2026 Games, the first ever to introduce the wheelchair mixed doubles event.

Although their successes in 2025 have propelled Dwyer and Emt to the Paralympics, their journeys began long before. 

Dwyer was born and raised in Wisconsin and used to be a landscaper. In 2012, at work, a 1,000-pound tree branch fell and landed on her, which resulted in 26 broken ribs, three broken toes and permanent paralysis from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury. 

Seven years after the accident, she discovered the sport of wheelchair curling. Since then, she represented the U.S. as an alternate at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics and at three separate world championships.

Her teammate Steve Emt was a star basketball player growing up. In fact, he played the sport at the collegiate level, first at West Point and then for UConn under legendary coach Jim Calhoun. A few years after graduating, he was driving drunk and got into a car crash that paralyzed him. 

He wound up finding wheelchair curling and since 2013, has competed in two Winter Paralympics and eight World Championships. 

Dwyer and Emt will look to write another chapter of their Paralympic stories in February in Milan Cortina. 

Women's and men's finals

The women’s and men’s curling Team Trials finals continue this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m. ET, respectively, both streaming on Peacock and airing on USA Network.