doubles

MILAN — Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse became the first U.S. curlers to medal in Olympic mixed doubles competition Tuesday, but the medal wasn’t the one they were trying to achieve.

The American pair lost in a dramatic final, 6-5, to the Swedish brother-sister combo of Isabella and Rasmus Wrana at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Dropkin and Thiesse led going into the final throw of the match.

A team skipped by John Shuster won gold in 2018, the last time the U.S. reached the medal podium in the sport. Shuster was also part of the only other U.S. medal-winning team, in 2006. That team was skipped by Peter Fenson.

Dropkin and Thiesse are the first Americans to win a medal in mixed doubles, which joined the Olympic calendar in 2018, while Thiesse is the first American woman to win a curling medal.

The U.S. reached the final when an incredible shot by Thiesse on the final delivery of Monday’s semifinal scored two points, turning a deficit into a 9-8 upset of Italy, a team that had beat the Americans in round-robin play. Sweden routed Britain 9-3 in its semifinal. Italy defeated Britain 5-3 for the bronze medal.

Britain will also have two representatives in the semi-finals of the men’s doubles event.

Sixth seeds Neal Skupski and American Christian Harrison won 6-2 6-3 against Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.

Luke Johnson and Polish partner Jan Zielinski were 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 winners over fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo, of El Salvador, and Croatia’s Mate Pavic.

Skupski and Harrison will play third seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Argentina Horacio Zeballos for a final place, with Johnson and Zielinski taking on Australian wildcards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans in the other half of the draw.

Andy Lapthorne and Gregory Slade were beaten in their respective quad singles first-round matches.

Lapthorne lost 6-4 7-5 to Turkish fourth seed Ahmet Kaplan, while Slade was beaten 6-1 6-3 by Brazilian qualifier Leandro Pena.

However, Lapthorne progressed to the quad doubles semi-finals alongside Australian Heath Davidson, achieving a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 win against Chile’s Francisco Cayulef and Argentine Gonzalo Enrique Lazarte.