Curling-Italians get mixed doubles title defence underway, Britain beat Estonia

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 5 - Italy's Olympic mixed doubles curling title defence got off to a winning start on Thursday, while the U.S. fought back to earn victory as the round-robin matches continued at the Milano Cortina Games.

The Italian pairing of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, who are also the world champions, took command of their contest against South Korea in the second end and were 6-1 up at the halfway mark before cruising to an 8-4 victory.

"To win is always good, especially the first win of the tournament. It wasn't easy to play because the ice was a little bit tricky with the speed," Mosaner said.

"I think we also had some tension and pressure because it's the Olympics. We were at home with our crowd and fans in the stands. But I think as the game went on, we tried to keep calm and make our shots one by one and stay focused.

"It was really amazing to hear from the fans chanting 'Italia, Italia, Italia'!"

Norway's twice Olympic medallists Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who were beaten by Britain on Wednesday, lost 8-6 to American curlers Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse, world champions in 2023.

The Norwegian duo was leading for a large part of the contest, before their opponents flipped the script in the final end.

"We struggled early on with our draw weight and had a really good fourth end break, refocused, talked about the different speeds and the different paths, and just wanting to communicate that more out on the ice," Thiesse said.

In the afternoon session, the American duo followed up their win by beating Switzerland's Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann and Yannick Schwaller 7-4.

Skaslien and Nedregotten also suffered their third straight defeat of the competition, losing 3-6 to Canada's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman to put a dent in their hopes of winning a third Olympic medal.

Earlier on Thursday, Britain's Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, the 2021 world champions, continued their winning run by beating Estonia's Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill 10-5.

Swedish siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wranaa won their second match 7-4 against Czechs Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky, the youngest pairing in the 10-team field.

The United States, Britain, Sweden and Canada occupy the playoff positions in the standings, with all four teams having two wins from two games.

Teams will play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues later on Thursday at the Cortina Olympic Curling Centre, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals next week. REUTERS