Team Cory and Korey: Minnesota curlers preparing for 2026 Winter Olympics
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Months after disappointment at the 2022 Olympic trials, two Minnesota curlers shared a drink at Duluth’s landmark Pickwick restaurant.
Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse were on separate mixed doubles teams when their Olympic dreams stalled. It was a moment of reflection — and possibility. The longtime friends shared similar curling journeys and aspirations, and their skills complemented each other.
Dropkin cut to the chase, asking Thiesse to be his mixed doubles partner.
“She’s got this stoic attitude to her, where, when she steps on that ice, she knows she can beat you, and she’s going to beat you,” Dropkin said. And besides, he added: “I also thought it’d be a phenomenal marketing play, ‘Team Cory and Korey.’”
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Thiesse said the pairing just made sense.
“Being good friends for a really long time made it a very easy transition for us to be teammates, and we kind of saw that right when we started playing together,” she recalled.
A year later, they won the world championships together. And now three years later, that on-ice partnership forged in Duluth has brought their shared dreams to life: they will be representing Team USA at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
Generational curlers
Born into families of curlers, it seemed inevitable that Thiesse and Dropkin would enter the sport long before stepping onto the pebbled sheets of ice. Curling rinks were their nurseries — rocks clanking and brooms squeaking a lullaby as they were nestled into car seats and left to crawl alongside the ice sheets.
Dropkin, who is originally from Massachusetts, started his career at Broomstones Curling Club — with his parents putting him on stones and pushing him down the sheet around age 5. While it was a family tradition, the sport did not have a huge following in the area.
“I was the only curler in my high school. People didn't really know what curling was,” Dropkin said. “I’d get questions like, ‘Are you talking about curling your hair? Are you talking about the bicep curls? Like, what is curling?’”
Thiesse, a Duluth native, said she officially started her career at 8 years old, but has been at the rink since she was a baby.
The pair met through the National Junior Development Program but did not really connect until Dropkin moved to Duluth for college — and curling.
“It was all for curling,” Dropkin said of his decision to leave home. “I knew that if I wanted to reach my goals and aspirations, that I had to surround myself with the best.”
For both Thiesse and Dropkin, the Duluth Curling Club has provided community, mentorship and unwavering support. The club, with more than 700 members, watched Thiesse grow up, cheering her on throughout her career — and welcomed Dropkin with open arms.
“Being able to grow up in a region, in a curling club, that has so many accomplished curlers — you walk into the Duluth Curling Club, and there’s banners from years and years of accomplished curlers,” Thiesse said. “Surrounding myself with people that are so accomplished in the sport has really helped me to believe in my dreams.”
Now Dropkin and Thiesse are becoming that inspiration for the next generation.
“They have been curling since they were kids, and so the kids in our club see a future for them in the sport,” Duluth Curling Club general manager Kerry Hadiaris said.
Club members will be cheering the pair on as they head overseas this winter.
“You will not see them tearing each other down,” Hadiaris said. “They’re very fun to watch, and when they’re playing well, they’re pretty unstoppable.”
Before Team Cory and Korey
Dropkin and Thiesse saw similar successes in their careers, leading up to their partnership. Both won their first U.S. Junior Curling Championships and respective men’s and women’s national championships in the same years. Thiesse was also an alternate on the U.S. women’s curling team that reached the 2018 Olympics.
Dropkin and Thiesse also both experienced the disappointment of losing at the Olympic mixed doubles trials in 2018 and 2022 — the latter of which led to their teaming up, after that meeting at Pickwick.
There have been bumps in the road — including a loss in the final of the national championships in 2024. But Thiesse said she believes that helped them go on to win the U.S. Olympic Mixed Doubles Curling Trials last February. That win — combined with their finish at the world championships last spring — secured the duo an Olympic berth.
“I’ve finally gotten to a point in life where I believe that things do happen for a reason, and you know, as long as you work hard enough and learn from the mistakes and from the losses that the wins will come and everything will fall into place like it's supposed to,” Thiesse said.
Thiesse and Dropkin were the third and fourth qualifiers for the U.S. team for the upcoming Winter Olympics — behind two snowboarders, and months ahead of their curling peers, which they said came as a huge relief. The early qualification helped them plan their schedules and balance commitments with their men’s and women’s teams more effectively, Thiesse said.
“To see our dreams, like coming to reality and all the hard work, like being shown off, it’s just —it’s a dream come true for both of us. You know, this is what all of us work towards,” Thiesse said.
Preparing for Italy
Dropkin and Thiesse have competed almost every weekend since July, spending ample time on the ice.
In addition to daily 60- to 90-minute training sessions and workouts, the pair finds joy in playing mixed league with their friends and significant others and running a weekly program for junior curlers.
When they are not on the ice, Dropkin and Thiesse golf and take their dogs for walks.
Dropkin said he brings his dog, Mikey, with him everywhere. At a recent practice in Chaska, he wore a sweatshirt featuring his dog’s face. He said it is important to keep it lighthearted on the ice for competitions or practices.
“When you’re a bit more playful, having an easier, a lighter mood type of environment — you’re having more fun and it’s easier to play your best,” Dropkin said. “When you’re relaxed, that’s when you're most dangerous.”
Both athletes work with a sports psychologist to develop tools for handling pressure. Dropkin uses affirmations to keep himself calm, reminding himself that he is prepared, has done this work before and can succeed. He saw that relaxed approach exhibited by the team led by Pete Fenson of Bemidji, the first U.S. curlers to win an Olympic medal.
“I think watching the ‘06 Olympics and in my basement, watching the Pete Fenson team win the bronze medal in Torino, that was kind of when I was like, ‘Wow, this is actually possible, and this is what it looks like. I want to be able to live that, too,’” Dropkin recalled.
Thiesse said she is excited to become part of the bigger Olympic community, noting how athletes from other sports came to watch the curling events in 2018.
“There’s just this, like incredible community around supporting each other and just being all-in for Team USA,” Thiesse said. “I’m just really looking forward to going out on the ice and just enjoying being there and enjoying being there together.”
Thiesse and Dropkin say a few dozen family and friends are planning to travel to Italy to cheer them on.
The pair are planning to get tattoos of the Olympic rings — something they always said they would do if they made it to the Winter Games. They said they are going to focus on living in the moment, having fun and trusting the process, rather than getting caught up in medal expectations.
“Pressure is a privilege,” Dropkin said. “All the effort and all the work and dedication and commitment we’ve put into being prepared will help us play as good as we need to play.”
