USA, China Take Final Olympic Fours Curling Spots

First it was the new young bucks of U.S. curling, Team Casper, who achieved Olympic team status in men’s fours.

Then it was the veteran Tabitha Peterson squad, who made it two for two for the U.S. in Olympic berths at the Olympic Qualifying Event in Kelowna.

Finally, China’s men recovered from their first playoff loss to Casper by defeating Japan for the final men’s fours Olympic berth in February.

Peterson and Co. finished off a grand comeback in B.C. by defeating Norway 8-4 to take the final women’s fours spot for Milano-Cortina 2026.

Norway had earlier lost the first playoff match, which saw Japan earn their way to Italy.

The U.S. and Norway swapped three-enders earlier in the matchup, and Peterson went into the break up 4-3 after a steal.

The thefts continued in ends six and seven and the Americans now had a 6-3 advantage.

Up 6-4 in the ninth frame, Peterson threw a come-around tap for two points and an insurmountable 8-4 lead.

This will be the third straight Olympic Games for Peterson and her first as a skip. “It’s very special, especially with this group of girls,” she told World Curling. “I can’t wait to get there and perform and show the world what we can do.”

The U.S. women’s teams went 4-5 at both the Beijing 2022 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympics.

U.S. third Cory Thiesse will perform double-duty in Cortina, as she competes in mixed doubles with Kory Dropkin to kick off the near month-long tournament.

Her vanquished opponent, Norway fourth thrower Kristen Skaslien, will also compete in mixed doubles in Cortina. She and husband Magnus Nedregotten won Olympic silver in Beijing and bronze in PyeongChang.

In the last men’s playoff, China’s Xiaoming Xu beat Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi 9-4, after posting early leads of 2-0 and 4-1.

The Japanese did get the score to 5-4, but disaster struck in the ninth end as Xu picked out a Japan stone to count four points.

Xu is a veteran of the ice wars, having competed at Vancouver 2010 as a second and at third at Sochi 2014, where China lost tight semifinal and bronze medal games to finish fourth.

The mixed doubles OQE, which involves 16 teams battling for two berths, gets underway in Kelowna on Saturday.