By Aadi Nair
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Italy’s Olympic mixed doubles curling title defence got off to a winning start on Thursday, while the U.S. fought back to earn victory as the round-robin matches continued at the Milano Cortina Games.
The Italian pairing of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, who are also the world champions, took command of their contest against South Korea in the second end and were 6-1 up at the halfway mark before cruising to an 8-4 victory.
“To win is always good, especially the first win of the tournament. It wasn’t easy to play because the ice was a little bit tricky with the speed,” Mosaner said.
“I think we also had some tension and pressure because it’s the Olympics. We were at home with our crowd and fans in the stands. But I think as the game went on, we tried to keep calm and make our shots one by one and stay focused.
“It was really amazing to hear from the fans chanting ‘Italia, Italia, Italia’!”
Norway’s twice Olympic medallists Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who were beaten by Britain on Wednesday, lost 8-6 to American curlers Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse, world champions in 2023.
The Norwegian duo was leading for a large part of the contest, before their opponents flipped the script in the final end.
“We struggled early on with our draw weight and had a really good fourth end break, refocused, talked about the different speeds and the different paths, and just wanting to communicate that more out on the ice,” Thiesse said.
Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, the 2021 world champions, continued their winning run by beating Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill 10-5.
Swedish siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wranaa also kept pace with the Britons atop the standings, winning their second match 7-4 against Czechs Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky, the youngest pairing in the 10-team field.
Teams will play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues later on Thursday at the Cortina Olympic Curling Centre, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals next week.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair, editing by Ed Osmond)
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