 Team Joel Retornaz (Photo: Anil Mungal) had the crowd buzzing in Cortina after knocking off Sweden's Niklas Edin. By: Cameron Sallaj A stacked first draw at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games saw the host team Italy's Joel Retornaz take on Sweden's Niklas Edin in a battle of two pre-tournament favorites. With newly minted doubles medalists Amos Mosaner and Rasmus Wrana back with their respective lineups, both teams looked to kick off the Olympics on a winning note. Momentum swung the Italians way to open the game as they were able to steal one in the opening end. Attempting a runback for two, Edin just missed the angle and nearly knocked his own stone out of the rings to give up two. However, only conceded one. Following blanks in the second and third, Edin faced four on his final stone in the fourth end. Needing to go out wide to reach the side of the four-foot, the Swedish skip was inch perfect to tie the game at one all. Facing multiple counters again on his last rock in five, Edin was flawless again on his final draw right to the Olympic rings. This forced Joel Retornaz into an angle runback, which was also executed to perfection, giving Italy three points and a decisive 4-1 lead heading to the second half. After a shaky first half, things started to turn Sweden's way in six as they put their first multi-point end on the board, scoring two to cut into the lead. After forcing Retornaz to a tough draw against three in the seventh, Edin drew the paint for two more in the eighth to bring the score to an even 5-5 game. Feeling the momentum slipping away, Italy took back control of the game after Edin jammed his final double attempt in the ninth, counting two to go up 7-5. Then in ten, a difficult angle runback for the win did not come off for Sweden as they only counted one, conceding the game 7-6 and giving the Italian fans exactly what they came to see on Day 1 of the team competition. The 2026 Games marks the fourth Olympic appearance for Italian skip Joel Retornaz, having also competed in 2006, 2018 and 2022. Famously, he led the Italian team to a 4-5 record at the 2006 Games in Turin, beating several household names including Canada's Brad Gushue, Germany's Andy Kapp and the United States' Pete Fenson. This time around, however, he enters as a true medal threat with his team of Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman and Mattia Giovanella. Currently sitting 6th in the world rankings, the team had a breakthrough 2023-24 season which saw them rise to number one in the world, claiming three Slam titles in the process. They have also won two bronze medals at the World Championships and three bronze medals at the Europeans. Next for the Italian side is another tough game as they take on world number one ranked Bruce Mouat and Team Great Britain. They will then face the teams ranked lower than them in the world rankings before closing out with Canada's Brad Jacobs and Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller, world number five and two respectively. Olympic Men's Standings - Draw 1 Great Britain (Mouat): 1-0 Canada (Jacobs): 1-0 The United States (Casper): 1-0 Italy (Retornaz): 1-0 Norway (Ramsfjell): 0-0 Switzerland (Schwaller): 0-0 Germany (Muskatewitz): 0-1 Sweden (Edin): 0-1 Czechia (Klima): 0-1 China (Xu): 0-1 |
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Team Joel Retornaz (Photo: Anil Mungal) had the crowd buzzing in Cortina after knocking off Sweden's Niklas Edin.
