 The semifinal matches have been determined at the 2026 Winter Olympics. By Cameron Sallaj It'll be a heavy weight tilt in both semifinal games of the mixed doubles tournament at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games. With the final round robin draw wrapping up Monday morning, the matches were finalized after the four playoff teams were determined on Sunday. The number one seeds through the preliminary round were Great Britain's Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat who boasted an unmatched 8-1 record. They will take on Sweden's Isabella and Rasmus Wrana, who qualified as the fourth seeds with a 5-4 record. Dodds and Mouat are no strangers to the Olympic playoffs with both qualifying for the medal round in the men's and women's competition in Beijing as well as the mixed doubles. While they did not take home a medal in doubles, Dodds came away with gold and Mouat took silver in the team event. They will be looking for mixed doubles redemption and to secure a place on the podium. For the Wrana's, this is their first time competing in this discipline at the Olympic Games. In Beijing, it was each of their thirds on their four-person teams Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson who won the bronze medal, defeating Dodds and Mouat in the bronze medal game. Despite this being Isabella's debut, Rasmus has a plethora of Olympic experience to draw from having won gold in the team event in 2022 and silver in 2018. As 2024 world champions, they will look to give Great Britain all they can handle in this semifinal tilt. The other semifinal game will feel like a bit of deja vu as it'll be a rematch of the final round robin draw between Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner and the United States' Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin. The Italians took the round robin game 7-6 to set up this playoff bracket, as they otherwise would've faced Great Britain. The Italian duo of Constantini and Mosaner might one of the most well-known pairs in the game despite their limited mixed doubles play. Having only competed in four international competitions together, the team holds an impressive 35-6 all-time record together. This includes their gold medal performance at the 2022 Beijing Games as well as their victory at last season's World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, going an undefeated 11-0 at both events. As the defending champions, the Italian side will look to advance to the gold medal game once again for the chance to stand atop the Olympic podium for a second consecutive Games. To do this, however, they will have to get through the United States' Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin for a second time. This pair has also experienced victory on the international stage, winning the 2023 World Championship in Korea. They also hold an impressively strong 30-5 record on the season, winning three tour titles and climbing to number seven on the world rankings. Having the best shooting percentage in the round robin, the United States will look to take down the reigning gold medalists for the chance to earn that title themselves. The semifinal matches get underway at 12:30 pm Eastern Time on Monday. Streaming links can be found on CurlingZone. Olympic Mixed Doubles Standings Great Britain (Dodds/Mouat): 8-1 Italy (Constantini/Mosaner): 6-3 The United States (Thiesse/Dropkin): 6-3 Sweden (Wrana/Wrana): 5-4 Canada (Peterman/Gallant): 4-5 Norway (Skaslien/Nedregotten): 4-5 Switzerland (Schwaller-Hurlimann/Schwaller): 4-5 Czechia (Zelingrova/Chabicovsky): 3-6 South Korea (Kim/Jeong): 3-6 Estonia (Kaldvee/Lill): 2-7 |
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