15 January 2026

Milano Cortina 2026: Team Denmark

In the lead up to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, we will be featuring one National Olympic Committee (NOC) a day who will compete. Next up is Team Denmark.

Denmark will be represented by one team at the Games: Team Dupont (women).

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The Dupont sisters amongst the most experienced curlers on today’s circuit, set to compete in their fifth (Denise) and fourth (Madeleine) Olympic Winter Games at Milano Cortina 2026.

Denise joins an exclusive club of five-time Olympians, playing lead alongside alternate My Larsen, second Jasmin Holtermann, third Mathilde Halse and skip, Madeleine — her sister.

Now 38 and 41, Madeleine and Denise have been central to the Danish national team for over 20 years. Madeleine has competed at 16 World Women’s Curling Championships, winning silver in 2007 and bronze in 2009, plus European silver in 2002 and bronzes in 2008 and 2009.

All of her medal success came at the age of 22, leading to a 13-year drought. That drought ended when Denmark claimed the European title in 2022, a perfect underdog story for the sisters.

Rebuilding in a rapidly changing sport

For a small curling nation like Denmark, losing even one team member to retirement can make or break your momentum. It wasn’t until three years ago that the team returned to anything resembling medal contention, with Madeleine calling it a “long, kind of strange career”.

“There was a period around 2010 where it just went from a hobby for many players to getting super professional really fast,” said Madeleine.

“After that, we just got left behind and we couldn’t keep up. Our results showed that we were not where many other nations were.

“We had a talk earlier this year about if we wanted to still keep playing up until the Olympics.

“We decided we’re going to do it for real, work part-time and then put in all the extra hours, do as much as possible right now. It seems like it’s working really well and we’re playing better than we have ever done as a team.”

Chemistry, motherhood and finding joy

She admits she wished they had had that talk earlier to give themselves more preparation, because the team has been gelling well.

“It’s wild how much you develop as a team by playing really tough competitions every second week,” she added.

“Even though we’re pretty experienced, you just learn so much from playing against the best teams in the world over and over again.”

This year has been challenging for Dupont, who gave birth to her son Henry in January 2024. She admits it has been harder the older he gets, as he has started to understand when his mother is leaving for competitions. Questions naturally arise over her future particularly when she mentions she is “not going to do this for ten more years”.

Yet, looking at her social media, the skip is clearly a player who enjoys having fun. Her Instagram is chock full of funny videos with her teammates — one even featuring them on bunk beds — harking back to her childhood sharing with Denise.

“I honestly think we can make videos like that on social media because we work so well together,” said Dupont.

“Because there are no bad feelings after a loss. It’s just curling and we get over it pretty quickly. It’s just back to having fun and back to dancing and singing.

“If we didn’t work well on the ice, we wouldn’t have the capacity to do that off the ice. So I think those two things are very much connected.”

Their team chemistry is integral to how they function. They have pre-game rituals where they let that nervous energy out with music, provided by the team DJ Mathilde Halse. They make it their mission to do activities together rather than stay indoors when on tour.

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Meet the team

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A lifetime bond

Central to that is having Denise on the team who she calls her the “biggest life witness I’m probably going to have in my whole life”.

“When you reach a certain age, you start to think more back maybe than think forward,” she said, “And I just often think that she’s the person who has known me the best my entire life.

“I feel really grateful that she’s been a part of all this; and I’ve been a part of her life and her career as well.”

Their differences match each other well too. She admits that her sister’s patience is something she both loves and makes her “really annoyed sometimes”. However, she does call consideration a huge strength which complements her ability to react quickly.

“I feel really grateful that she’s been a part of all this; and I’ve been a part of her life and her career as well.”

Madeleine Dupont, Team Denmark

A future still undecided

Denmark has hovered on the edge of major success in recent seasons. They made the play-offs of the World Championship in 2024, placed seventh in 2025 and had back-to-back fifth-place finishes at the European Championships decided by narrow margins. Reviewing the stats, Dupont called this “more of a confidence boost than I thought it would be”.

Yet the question still lingers for the curling future of a young mother who is candid about the separation from her child. But little Henry is only one small piece of the bigger picture.

For Denmark, they are reliant on a team who can keep at the elite standard, knowing a couple of retirements could bring another drought that the Dupont sisters previously witnessed.

“Let’s say two of us really want to continue, and the other three, they are done; then I’m done too. It’s at least four of us or nothing,” she said.

“I’m not going to say I have made up my mind, but that’s also exciting, like not knowing what’s going to happen. So I’m not trying to do or make any decisions in advance. I’m just going to try to be in it right now.

“I do think having a family helps with the decision when it comes to that, but also I know no matter when it’s going to happen, it’s going to feel devastating because this has been my life for the majority of my life.

“This is my identity. In my workplace, I’m the one who curls. In my friend group, I’m the one who curls.”

Top criteria for the Games

As Milano Cortina 2026 approaches, the significance of the Olympic cycle grows. This could be the last time we see one of the best sibling duos surrounded by the five rings, but that makes this occasion all the more important for their nation and themselves. And to add to the significance of this Games, it was announced Denise will carry the Danish flag for the opening ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026.

“Winning shouldn’t be everything,” said Dupont.

“It’s way too fragile of a foundation to have if the only success criteria is winning.

“So our biggest criteria for having a good tournament is definitely to have fun.”

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Team Stats

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