Two days before the Opening Ceremonies, mixed doubles curling will open the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics on Wednesday, Feb. 4, with 10 teams competing for gold.

The defending Olympic champs are back following an undefeated 2025, but who are they and who are the other nine competitors looking to defeat the Italians on their home ice? 

Here’s a look at all 10 teams competing this week...

Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner

Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner are coming off of an historic sweep at the 2022 Olympics, becoming just the third curling team — and first in mixed doubles — to win every single match in a single Games on the way to a gold medal.

The duo didn’t play together again until the 2025 World Championships, but they showed no signs of rust, again going a perfect 9-0 on the way to a title in the final major competition before the Olympics.

"I think we did great," Constantini told Reuters following the World Championships. "We didn't practice very much before the world championships. We did just some practice together, throwing rocks and trying to find our dynamics again. But it was not a problem at all. I think we really communicate well. We work together. We listen to each other. I think we can really find that perfect dynamic on the ice."

If their dominance on the ice wasn’t enough, the Italians also have a heavy home field advantage in these Games. Constantini is from Cortina, where the curling events will take place, and Mosaner is from just two-and-a-half hours away.

“Competing at home in Cortina will be the cherry on top of the cake," Constantini told the Associated Press.

Mosaner, too, is incredibly well-liked in his home country. He was selected as one of four flagbearers for Italy for the 2026 Opening Ceremony.

Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin

Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin both hail from Duluth, Minnesota, and have a long history in the sport of curling. They've known each other for most of their lives.

"Twenty years ago, the two of us watched the 2006 Olympics, and that’s when our dream started, watching Team USA win the bronze medal in the men’s curling event," Dropkin told reporters in Italy on Tuesday. "And 20 years later, we’re here in Cortina in the beautiful mountains being able to have the opportunity to show how passionate I am for this sport, how fun and complicated this game is, and how physically demanding it is."

The two separately won U.S. Juniors Championships in men's and women's curing in 2012, but only started playing together about four years ago when Dropkin asked Thiesse to dinner to pop the question.

"I asked if she wanted to play mixed doubles and she immediately said, 'yes,' which was exciting," Dropkin said. 

Almost exactly one year later, the two won the world championship in 2023.

After winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in February 2025, they competed in worlds again later that year and finished fifth, good enough to qualify for this year’s Games.

"We have great flow on the ice," Thiesse said. "I consider Korey to be a bit of a mixed doubles specialist. He’s really dove into the strategy of mixed doubles, and I think we play a really smart game."

"Cory’s got that calm, confident, stoic personality on the ice, and I bring that fiery, passionate energy, and the two mix really well together," Dropkin added. "When we need to make a big shot, I’m glad to have Cory on my team. I’ve got all the confidence in the world that she’s going to make the big one and shine bright as the star that she is. It’s what she does. I’m looking forward to watching her and being her biggest cheerleader out there."

This will be the first Olympic competition for both curlers. Thiesse was an alternate for the U.S. women’s team in 2018, and she will also compete with the U.S. women's team later in Cortina.

Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten

One of three married couples in this year’s mixed doubles field, the Norwegians are also the only curlers to have won multiple Olympic medals in the event, having won silver in 2022 and bronze in 2018.

"It's an advantage to know each other well, as then you don't have to wrap things up. You can say exactly what you mean to the other person and then you are done with it and then you can move on,” Kristin Skaslien said of playing with her husband. “So that's an advantage, but sometimes it's a challenge playing with your husband on the ice."

Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat

Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat have been curling together for so long, Dodds said she can remember Mouat “holding the brush and it was taller than him.”

At the time, Dodds was 10 and Mouat was just 7. Since then, the duo has won the mixed doubles world championship in 2021, finished fourth at the 2022 Olympics, and is coming off of a second place finish at the 2025 worlds.

Both players, each in their second Olympics, will also compete for Great Britain in the men's and women's team events. Mouat was part of a men’s team that finished second in the 2022 Games, and Dodds won gold in the women’s tournament that same year.

Sweden’s Isabella Wrana and Rasmus Wrana

The Swedish duo have known each other longer than anyone else in the tournament... because they’re siblings. 

Their brother-sister bond led to a world championship in 2024. They’ll look to continue Sweden’s run of success in mixed doubles curling following a bronze medal win by Almida De Val and Oskar Eriksson at the 2022 Games.

This will be the first Olympics for Isabella Wrana, and the third for the elder Rasmus Wrana, who won medals in both of his other Games. In the men’s tournament, he was part of a gold medal winning team in 2022, and a silver medal win in 2018.

If the Wrana’s were to win a medal in this Olympics, it would be a first for a set of siblings in mixed doubles play.

Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill

Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill are set to become the first Estonians to ever compete in Olympic curling, and they’re bringing some recent success to Cortina. Over the last three world championships, the duo finished fifth, second, and fourth. 

And while both are competing in their first Olympics, they have a veteran on their coaching staff. One of their coaches is Norway’s Magnus Nedregotten. They’ll meet their coach on Saturday, but it won’t be the first time facing him on the ice. They also played against one another at the most recent world championships.

Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant

The Canadian duo finished sixth at the most recent world championships, and come to Cortina following a fifth place finish at the 2022 Games.

Another married couple, this is the second Olympics for both players, but their first together in mixed doubles.

Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann

The third married couple in the field, both Schwallers are playing in their first Olympics.

“Dreams really do come true,” Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann said in an Instagram post. “To chase them with my better half by my side makes it even more special. Can't wait to hit the ice in February."

Even though it’s their first Games, curling runs in both players’ families. Yannick Schwaller will also serve as the skip for Switzerland’s men’s curling team in Cortina, and will be joined on the team by his brother, Kim. Their father and uncle were also Olympic curlers, and won bronze during the 2002 Games.

Briar’s father was also a Swiss curler, and won gold at the 1998 Olympics. Her mother was part of the Swiss national team that won a bronze medal at the 1992 world championships.

Czechia’s Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky

Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky are just the second Czech curlers to ever compete in an Olympics. They qualified for this year’s Games by winning the final Olympic qualifying event in December.

The duo finished 16th at the most recent world championships.

The Czechians are also the youngest team in the field in Cortina. At just 19, Zelingrova is the youngest curler in this year’s Olympics. Chabicovsky is just two years older, and five years younger than the next youngest curler in mixed doubles.

If they were to medal, both would become the youngest medalists in Olympic curling history.

South Korea’s Kim Seon-Yeong and Jeong Yeong-Seok

The South Koreans upset defending world bronze medalists Australia in the final qualification game at December’s Olympic Qualifying Event to clinch the 10th and final spot in this year’s Games.

Kim Seon-Yeong will be competing in her third Olympics, and first in mixed doubles. She was part of a silver medal winning women’s team in 2018.

This will be the Olympic debut for Jeong Yeong-Seok.