{"id":459163,"date":"2026-02-10T00:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T00:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/459163\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T00:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T00:59:08","slug":"the-cory-and-korey-curling-show-gives-the-u-s-another-shot-at-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/459163\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cory and Korey Curling Show Gives the U.S. Another Shot at Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Korey Dropkin, the male half of the U.S. mixed doubles curling team<\/a> that beat host Italy, 9-8, in a tense semifinal match Monday night to reach the Olympic gold medal game, is giving off Pete Weber vibes<\/a> here in Italy. Weber,<\/a> the Hall of Fame bowler, went viral for his now-iconic 2012 outburst after rolling a strike to win the U.S. Open. \u201cWho do you think you are?!! I am!!\u201d Weber yelled as he pointed two thumbs at himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dropkin didn\u2019t utter anything as ridiculous as that on Monday, but in a typically staid and polite sport like curling, he\u2019s bringing some welcome energy to the Olympic proceedings. After teammate Cory Thiesse\u2014you\u2019re free to address them as Girl Cory and Boy Korey\u2014delivered the game-winning shot in the eighth and final end, a sort of curling version of an inning, Dropkin pumped his fists, and waved his arms up to the crowd at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.<\/a> \u201cHow do you like that!\u201d he said to a group of supporters. Dropkin flexed an arm. (All that sweeping may have helped him develop some chisel). He slid down the sheet, spinning around several times to acknowledge the American fans.<\/p>\n

Dropkin seemed to be relishing in this moment. Maybe even milking it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s me,\u201d said Dropkin after the match. \u201cIt’s childhood Korey that always had fun. You know, got up, swept his own rocks, did some spins and twirls on the way back to the hack<\/a> as he threw another stone. And I don’t want to lose that feeling. I don’t want to forget who I am in that moment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who can blame him? The American pair will face Sweden in Tuesday\u2019s Olympic final, giving the United States a chance at its second curling gold: the U.S. men\u2019s squad took the top prize<\/a> eight years ago in PyeongChang. Dropkin and Thiesse are also the first American mixed doubles team to reach a final since the event debuted in South Korea in 2018. Team USA\u2019s semifinal victory over Italy guaranteed Dropkin and Thiesse at least a silver medal. So whatever happens in their next game, Thiesse will become the first American woman ever to win a curling medal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how important it was for me to have people to look up to when I was growing up,\u201d says Thiesse. \u201cSo I just hope that I can be kind of an inspiration for young girls in curling, or in any sport in the U.S., to just dream big.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dropkin asked Thiesse to be his mixed partner in April of 2022: he thought she was the best shotmaker in the United States. And she lived up to that billing on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In mixed doubles curling, each team throws five stones in an end, and the team with the last shot in an end owns what\u2019s known as the \u201chammer.\u201d The hammer is a distinct advantage in the sport because players with last shot can curl their stones close to the button<\/a>\u2014the bullseye on the ice\u2014to win points while at the same time clearing the opponents\u2019 rock out of the circular scoring zone, or house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Italy had an 8-7 lead going into the final end. But the U.S. had the hammer. When Thiesse lined up to take the last shot, an Italian stone was nearest to the button. Thiesse had a path to place her stone closer, which would have given the Americans a single point and forced a tie. Instead, she went for the win. Her stone not only knocked that would-be winning Italy rock out of play, but on the bounce it nudged another Italian rock slightly to the side, leaving two U.S. stones closest to the button. Two points, and a victory, for the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thiesse had been wielding her hammer all night long. \u201cShe\u2019s like Kobe Bryant,<\/a> Caitlin Clark,<\/a> just draining them,\u201d says Dropkin. \u201cShe’s clutch. One word. Clutch. That\u2019s my teammate.\u201d Playing it safe, they said, never came up in conversation. <\/p>\n

Girl Cory endorses Boy Korey\u2019s theatrics. \u201cWe’re at our best when both of our personalities are coming out,\u201d says Thiesse. \u201cFor me, it’s just kind of letting him do his thing and just doing my thing. And remaining calm and having this kind of quiet confidence about myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, she reels me in a little bit,\u201d says Dropkin. \u201cShe\u2019s kind of just let me loose here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it seems to be working in Cortina. Why stop now against Sweden?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really cool,\u201d says Dropkin. \u201cThanks, Cor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Korey Dropkin, the male half of the U.S. mixed doubles curling team that beat host Italy, 9-8, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[214394,23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-459163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-2026-milan-and-cortina-dampezzo-olympics","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}