11 March 2026
People’s Republic of China crowned Paralympic champions at Milano Cortina 2026
On Wednesday, four teams were battling for the first-ever Paralympic medals in wheelchair mixed doubles curling.
Team China and Team Korea played for gold medals and the Paralympic title, while Latvia and Team United States played for bronze.
Gold medal final
People’s Republic of China versus Republic of Korea
Team China had hammer in the first end and scored three points after Wang Meng’s perfect hit-and-stick. In the second, Team Korea went on the board with a single.
Team China put two more on the board in the third, and forced Team Korea to take a single in the fourth for 5-2 at halftime.
In the fifth, Team Korea stole a single when Wang Meng was heavy with her last draw. In the sixth, Team China scored two with Power Play and were leading, 7-3.
In the seventh, Team Korea called for Power Play and scored three to reduce their deficit to a single point. In the eighth, Team China had last-stone advantage, but Wang Meng came up short with her last, and Team Korea stole one to take the game to an extra end, 7-7.
In the extra end, Baek Hyejin came up heavy with her last and Team China didn’t have to throw their last to become the first-ever Paralympic champions in wheelchair mixed doubles curling.
Team China 11 – 10 Team Korea
After the final, Team China’s now two-time Paralympic champion female player Wang Meng said, “I feel super proud, I have so many people I would like to say thank you to, who supported us on this journey. I feel that in the second half of the game, Team Korea actually played better than us. They were more resilient, more patient.”
Her teammate, Yang Jinqiao added, “All the efforts over the last four years were worthwhile. It’s a reward for all our efforts. Meng played a perfect game today.”
Silver medal-winning Baek Hyejin said, “It’s a great honour to be able to get this silver medal. In the beginning, it was a bit of a struggle, but we managed to catch up towards the end. Our last shot wasn’t the best, so for that there’s a bit of a regret. However, I’m very happy to be going home with a silver medal.”
Her teammate, Lee Yongsuk added, “It doesn’t feel real, but I see that something is hanging around my neck. I can feel it, and I’m especially happy that I achieved this result with her [Hyejin]. We reached where we are with a step-by-step approach, we said every time ‘let’s go to the play-offs, let’s go to the semi-final, let’s go to the final.”
The gold medallist Chinese team are female player Wang Meng and male player Yang Jinqiao, supported by their coach Ru Xia.
The silver medallist Korean team are female player Baek Hyejin and male player Lee Yongsuk, supported by their coach Park Kilwoo.
Bronze medal game
Latvia versus Team United States
Team United States had a great start to the game and put four on the board in the first end. Latvia called for Power Play in the second and scored five right back.
Latvia stole a single in the third when Laura Dwyer’s draw came up heavy. The teams traded single scores in the next two ends, giving Latvia a 7-5 lead after five ends.
In the sixth, Team United States called for Power Play. They put a big score of four on the board and took back the lead for the first time since the first end, 9-7.
In the seventh, Latvia scored three back for a 10-9 lead. Team United States had hammer in the eighth end, and were sitting one before Laura Dwyer’s last shot. She had to make a difficult draw to score two and win, but she came up heavy, scored a single and put the game into an extra end.
In that end, Agris Lasmans ticked a Latvian stone sitting in the four-foot and his shooter rolled onto the pin, having two American stones backing it. Laura Dwyer played a difficult tap-back, which she missed slightly, and Latvia didn’t need to throw their last to become Paralympic bronze medallists.
Latvia 11 – 10 United States of America
The bronze medallist Latvian team are female player Polina Rozkova and male player Agris Lasmans, supported by their coach Arnis Veidemanis.
After their game, a delighted Polina Rozkova said, “It was our goal to win a medal. And every game starting from our game against Estonia [their fourth round-robin game and first win] was our small final. If we lose, we lose everything. And we put so much work in, not only these last three years, it’s ten years plus work.
“When in 2023 Aleksander [former teammate] broke his leg, I was so thankful to Agris, and I said ‘it doesn’t matter, don’t worry, I will do all the work, I was training’. But unfortunately, after we won the gold, our budget wasn’t as good as we hoped, so our preparation wasn’t so good. So, our results weren’t as good. But this year we were ready.
“Team USA showed really good performance in the first end, but we were ‘no-no, we are not ready to give up’. We knew that we will take Power Play and we did it really good. So we thought, ‘okay, we are back in the game’. It was an equal game.”
Her teammate, Agris Lasmans added, “I was ready yesterday for something. But bronze is okay. I’m proud that I’m Latvian and I’m coming from such a small country as Latvia and won the first winter Paralympic medal for Latvia. I’m proud, but not satisfied with the final standings, because we could do better, but unfortunately, our LSD wasn’t the best.”
Wheelchair curling action continues on Thursday at Milano Cortina 2026 with the last round-robin sessions in the mixed team discipline.
Follow the live scores from the wheelchair mixed teams at Milano Cortina 2026 here.
Follow the live scores from the wheelchair mixed doubles at Milano Cortina 2026 here.
Find the full wheelchair curling schedule and results here.
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