US mixed doubles curling team takes first 2 losses after 4-0 start

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy -- Britain's Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat beat Canada before ending the United States' unbeaten run to clinch their place in the mixed doubles curling semi-finals at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Saturday.

Mouat and Dodds, who were world champions in 2021 and finished in fourth place at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, sit atop the round-robin standings after winning their first seven games in the competition.

They can no longer be caught by Canada or Switzerland, who are joint-fifth.

The British pair sealed a hard-fought win over Canada's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman in the morning session, before returning to the ice and beating Americans Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse 6-4.

"It's always a nice feeling to know you're qualified, but we want to still continue to play well," Dodds said.

"And today, those two games were definitely our A performances out there and we'll need to continue that. So we'll continue that into tomorrow and hopefully we can secure a top spot."

It was a disappointing day for the U.S. pair. After entering the day as one of two remaining unbeatens with a 4-0 record, they also took a 6-5 defeat to South Korea's

Jeong Yeong-seok and Kim Seon-yeong.

ITALY BEAT NORWAY, AGAIN

In the evening session, champions Italy beat two-time Olympic medalists Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien of Norway 6-5 in a rematch of the final in Beijing four years ago.

In a close encounter, both teams appeared to struggle to get a read of the ice, with Norway's Nedregotten miscalculating a shot in the final end which enabled Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner to set up a steal and nab the win.

"Sometimes it's the way the game needs to go, a couple of times we have been unlucky, and this time we were lucky, it's always 50-50," Mosaner said.

"Today we had some luck and we take it, to win a championship we need it."

Italy's win moves them up to joint-second in the standings, with Norway in joint-seventh.

Earlier on Saturday, Sweden's Isabella and Rasmus Wranaa clinched a 9-4 win over Italy to boost their hopes of a top-four finish.

The Czech pairing of Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky beat South Korea 9-4 to pick up their first win of the tournament.

Teams play nine times in the round-robin stage at the Cortina Olympic Curling Centre, with the semi-finals taking place on Monday and the medal matches scheduled for Tuesday.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media