Sports
Canada stun Italy, US starts 2-0 in mixed doubles curling
Feb 5, 2026; Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin of Team United States high five during curling mixed doubles round robin competition during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Italy’s Olympic title defense got off to a mixed start at the Milano Cortina Games on Thursday, as the mixed doubles curling champions beat South Korea before suffering their first defeat in major competition at the hands of Canada.
The Italian pairing of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, who are also the world champions, cruised to an 8-4 victory over Koreans Jeong Yeong-seok and Kim Seon-yeong in the morning session.
However, a poor start in their game against Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman ended their record, after they had made it through the only two competitions they played together — the 2022 Olympics and the 2025 World Championships — undefeated.
An inch-perfect play from Peterman left the Italians trailing 5-0 after the first end and the home favorites quickly unraveled, with Mosaner missing a string of shots as they reached the halfway mark trailing 6-2.
That deficit proved too much for Italy, who eventually conceded at 7-2.
“It went terrible in the first end for me. We gave up five in the first end, but I have to accept I missed the shots and they played better. We have to accept the loss and we try to start better tomorrow,” Mosaner said.
The Canadians, making their mixed doubles debut at the Games, produced an impressive display on Thursday as they also beat Norway’s two-time Olympic medalists Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten in the afternoon session.
Asked how it felt to end Italy’s unbeaten record, Gallant said: “It feels great, obviously. Going into that game, you really only have one option, you have to play really well because they’re such a strong team.
“Defending world champs, defending Olympic champs. You have to get off to a great start, play really well. I’m just proud that we were able to execute that plan tonight.”
Canada’s win moved them level at 3-0 with Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, who beat the Czech Republic and Estonia on Thursday.
Switzerland (2-1) and the United States (2-0) occupy the remaining two playoff spots.
American curlers Korey Dropkin and Corey Thiesse, world champions in 2023, prevailed 8-6 over Norway’s Skaslien and Nedregottenand later beat Switzerland 7-4.
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.
In the evening session, Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill claimed their country’s first ever curling victory at the Olympics in any category, beating Sweden’s brother-sister duo of Isabella and Rasmus Wrana 7-5.
Teams play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues on Friday at the Cortina Olympic Curling Centre, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals next week.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Sports
Royce Lewis' HR helps Twins dispatch Orioles
Mar 28, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Taj Bradley (26) delivers during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images Royce Lewis hit a two-run home run and the Minnesota Twins won for the first time under first-year manager Derek Shelton by beating the host Baltimore Orioles 4-1 on Saturday.
Six Minnesota pitchers combined on a five-hitter while striking out 16 batters and walking six.
The Twins prevailed despite managing only four hits – including two by Byron Buxton – with the bats. The outcome came in the second game of the season-opening series.
Anthony Banda (1-0) was the winning pitcher with two-thirds of an inning of relief. Cole Sands worked the ninth and was credited with a save.
The Orioles stranded 11 runners on base. Jeremiah Jackson had two hits for Baltimore.
Minnesota starter Taj Bradley struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits but he was finished after 92 pitches.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (0-1) was done after 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits and taking the loss. He walked three and struck out four.
Baltimore scored first on Jackson’s run-scoring single.
Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly tied it in the fourth. When Lewis belted his homer in the fifth, it gave the Twins a lead for the first time this season.
Lewis had 13 home runs last year while playing a career-high 106 games.
Banda entered behind Bradley and notched strikeouts for his two outs and then Kody Funderburk fanned the first two Orioles in the sixth, so it meant that 13 of the first 17 outs recorded by the Twins came via strikeouts.
The Orioles loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Eric Orze got Gunnar Henderson on a flyout to end the threat.
The Twins tacked on a run in the seventh on Kody Clemens’ two-out single that drove in Lewis.
Baltimore used five pitchers, registering a total of 10 strikeouts.
The result handed Baltimore’s Craig Albernaz his first loss as a big-league manager.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
Mar 28, 2026; Sacramento, CA, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard Ta’niya Latson (00) looks to shoot the ball against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter in the Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 4 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points to help top-seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Oklahoma 94-68 in a Sweet 16 matchup Saturday in Sacramento.
Latson set the tone from the start, scoring eight points during the Gamecocks’ 10-0 run to start the game.
South Carolina will take on the winner of Saturday’s TCU-Virginia matchup Monday.
The Gamecocks (34-3) are looking for their sixth consecutive Final Four appearance.
South Carolina lost the regular-season matchup between the teams 94-82 in overtime Jan. 22.
In their NCAA Tournament matchup, though, the Gamecocks never gave the Sooners a chance for any kind of a late push.
Latson helped make sure of that, hitting a jumper on the opening possession, nailing a 3-pointer shortly thereafter, then hitting three free throws after being fouled less than three minutes into the game to put her team up 10-0.
Oklahoma briefly cut the deficit to six, but after the first quarter, South Carolina’s lead never dipped below double figures.
Latson finished 7 of 11 from the floor with five assists. The Gamecocks shot 50.7% from the floor.
Raven Johnson added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Tessa Johnson scored 14.
The Sooners (26-8) were led by freshman Aaliyah Chavez, who had 21 points. Oklahoma finished with a season-low nine assists, while South Carolina had 21 on 34 field goals.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Top teams Natus Vincere, Team Vitality clinch sports in BLAST Open Spring grand final
BLAST Premier 2022 CS:GO Team Vitality continued its dominance while Natus Vincere held strong to set up a matchup of top-seeded teams in the best-of-five grand final after wins in the semifinals of the BLAST Open Spring on Saturday at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Both teams received byes to the semifinals after undefeated runs in group play. Team Vitality still has yet to drop a game as they defeated Aurora Gaming 2-0 to set up a clash with Natus Vincere, which downed PARIVISION 2-1.
The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that contested double-elimination brackets in Copenhagen, Denmark. The top three finishers in each bracket advanced to the six-team playoffs in Rotterdam.
The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
Team Vitality was dominant against Aurora Gaming, claiming 13-5 victories on Inferno and Nuke. Israel’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan had a match-high 37 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. Ali ‘Wicadia’ Haydar Yalcin had a team-best 30 kills for the all-Turkish side, but had a minus-2 K-D differential.
Natus Vincere had a tougher time with PARIVISION but still came away with the victory, winning 13-11 on Dust II and 13-7 on Mirage to clinch it after falling 13-8 on Inferno. Ukrainian Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov paced Natus Vincere with 59 kills and a match-best plus-17 K-D differential. Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali led the way for all-Russian PARIVISION with 50 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential.
BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)
1. $150,000, 3
2. $60,000, 1
3-4. $40,000, 1 — PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming
5-6. $20,000, 1 — Team Falcons, The MongolZ
7-8. $10,000 — FURIA, Team Spirit
9-12. $7,500 — TYLOO, NRG, 9z Team, Team Liquid
13-16. $5,000 — FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas
–Field Level Media
Royce Lewis' HR helps Twins dispatch Orioles
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
