Mixed doubles play-off brackets set at Milano Cortina 2026

Italy and United States of America — both of which are already qualified for the semi-finals — faced each other in Monday morning’s thirteenth and last mixed doubles round-robin session. They played this session knowing the results would shape the semi-finals line-up.

Meanwhile, the other two semi-finalists — table-toppers Great Britain and Sweden — were not scheduled in this session and had to wait to discover their semi-final opponents.

The Americans started with last stone advantage and used it to open the scoring with a single point when Cory Thiesse played a double take-out.

Cory Thiesse, United States of America © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Italy responded in the second end, when Stefania Constantini drew her final stone inside an American counter already in the house, scoring one and levelling the game to 1-1. Italy then took a 2-1 lead in the third with a single steal when Thiesse’s final draw came up just short.

However, the Americans responded straight away with a double raise for one point in the fourth, putting the teams into the break level at 2-2.

The Italian break-through came in the fifth end when Constantini played a long angle raise shot to score four and take a 6-2 lead. Undaunted, the Americans fought back and, using their Power Play in the sixth, Thiesse scored two points — the second confirmed after an umpire’s measure.

Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini © World Curling / Celine Stucki

In the seventh, Constantini was facing two American counters as she played her last. Her draw was just too heavy, and the Italians gave up a steal of two, to level the game to 6-6.

Eventually, in the eighth, Constantini played a nose-hit to score the one point that gave Italy their 7-6 win.

This result puts Italy into second overall, while United States of America are third, and these two teams will face each other again in the semi-finals on Monday evening. At the same time, leaders Great Britain will face fourth-placed Sweden.

After the game, Constantini said, “I’m feeling really good, we’ll be playing against the same team again, and that game showed them that we are ready.”

Stefania Constantini, Italy © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Meanwhile, her partner Amos Mosaner was full of praise for her skill in scoring the game-changing four, saying, “This kind of shot you have to celebrate — it was a great shot for four, so you have to celebrate because I think that is part of the sport.”

About the same shot, Constantini simply said, “When you have a corner guard like that you take a look and say ‘maybe, if I need it’ and this time we needed it.”

The Americans also reflected on the game they had just played and the semi-final to come. Cory Thiesse said, “It was a really well-played game by both teams, she made a great shot for four in the one end and we battled our way back, so that’s a good takeaway for tonight.”

Korey Dropkin added, “We just need to be a little sharper here and there and make sure we make the right shots and be a bit more precise.

“But that’s just one game — we’re a hard team to beat twice. They’ll be up for that game tonight, so will we, it’s going to be fun.”

Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, United States of America © World Curling / Celine Stucki

In the three other games of this final round-robin session, Canada beat Switzerland by 8-4, meaning that Canada finished fifth overall and Switzerland were seventh.

Norway beat Republic of Korea by 8-5 to finish sixth while the Koreans were ninth. Czechia beat Estonia by 8-4 to finish eighth, while Estonia were tenth.