CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Rapper Snoop Dogg brought a touch of flair to the mixed doubles curling competition on Thursday, sporting a custom jacket featuring the faces of American duo Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse while cheering them to victory over Canada.

Snoop was in attendance at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium to witness the American pair beat Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman 7-5 in front of a raucous stadium packed with U.S. supporters.

It was the U.S. team’s third straight win in the mixed doubles competition at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The Americans went on to defeat the Czech Republic 8-1 to start the round robin perfect 4-0, behind only Great Britain (5-0) in the standings.

“It’s the Olympics, and our family and friends are here cheering us on. Snoop Dogg’s here cheering us on! It (the jacket) was so cool. Loved it. Coach Snoop looked good today,” a fired-up Dropkin said.

“Man, we are so fortunate to have our family and so many friends of ours here cheering us on. Even some folks that we don’t even know, but they showed up and they’re cheering loud and proud…

“He (Snoop) had his arm around my mom! Like, get out of here. This is wild! I think Coach Mum was helping Snoop out, telling him all about curling.”

Hip-hop icon and sports fan Snoop, who was named the Honorary Coach of Team USA in December, got hands-on with the sport and was given a quick primer on the basics by members of the U.S. men’s and women’s teams on the ice after the match.

He also distributed “Coach Snoop” beanies and chains featuring the logo of his music label Death Row Records to players and coaches.

“He came out to meet the teams, he brought us all little gifts and it was fun,” U.S. coach Phill Drobnick said.

“We got a necklace and a Coach Snoop hat. Good to see him, sitting with Korey’s mom, watching the game, learning about the sport. He had the jacket with Cory and Korey on it, so that was really cool.”

Snoop was ever-present at the Paris Olympics, serving as a hype man for Team USA and performing at a beach party in his native Long Beach during the handover ceremony for Los Angeles 2028. He was re-signed by NBC for the Winter Games.

SELFIE WITH TEAM GB’S MOUAT

The Americans were not the only team to attract Snoop’s attention at the tournament, with the rapper also asking Bruce Mouat, the skip who led the British men’s curling team to silver at the Beijing Games, for a photograph together.

“That was pretty crazy,” Mouat said.

The Scot’s mixed doubles partner Jennifer Dodds said she was left awestruck, adding: “That was so cool.

“He said to Bruce he’s heard about him and he knows who he is, so that was pretty cool! I was like ‘Snoop Dogg!’ When we got out there, I was proper like fangirling, going, ‘Oh my god! Snoop Dogg?'”

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — World champion Breezy Johnson was relieved to complete the first training session for the women’s Olympic downhill on Friday but the American was still not about to let down her guard.

Cortina’s Olimpia delle Tofane piste, a gleaming streak down the mountain but shrouded in low cloud on Friday as skiers waited their turn, holds painful memories for the 30-year-old Alpine skier from just before the last Games.

Having qualified for the U.S. team to compete at Beijing 2022, Johnson fell in a training session for a World Cup downhill in Cortina weeks before and suffered a right knee injury that dashed her Olympic dream.

“Because of what happened last time I don’t trust that the Olympics is here until I’m in the finish of the downhill,” she said.

“There’s still a whole other training run and everything else that can happen in between.”

Johnson, eighth in the downhill standings, won her world championship gold on Feb. 8 last year and will be going for Olympic gold again on Sunday. She said there was no temptation to play safe and skip the second training run on Saturday.

“You definitely need to feel out this hill,” she said. “The speeds were definitely low today. You know 1:38, you can look up what the times were last year. I think they were probably 1:34. To be five seconds faster on race day, you’re going to be scared.”

Johnson — sixth fastest in the session with teammate Jacqueline Wiles fastest and 0.66 quicker than Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff-Lie — said the piste was very soft and even slushy on the bottom and would need more preparation overnight.

Thursday’s first training had to be canceled due to heavy snow and Friday was the first opportunity to scope out the course.

“They definitely need to do a lot more slipping and working on some of the terrain as well, because some of it at really low speeds with the soft snow was kind of on the limit,” said Johnson.

“I think they know what they need to do but we’ll definitely hope that they continue to do that work on the slope before the race.”

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

The San Antonio Spurs stood pat at the trade deadline and look to continue to show why they are happy with the progress they’ve made as they host the swooning Dallas Mavericks on Saturday in the second of a home-and-home miniseries between the teams.

The Spurs took the first game 135-123 in Dallas on Thursday as Victor Wembanyama dominated with 29 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots, with one swat coming in the final minutes when the Mavericks were making a last-gasp push.

“We had some possessions where I thought we had good multiple efforts but our initial game plan execution or physicality wasn’t there,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We did a really good job, especially at the end, of shoring it up a little bit more than we were throughout the game.”

Harrison Barnes had 19 points for the Spurs, including a pair of free throws in the deciding stretch. Stephon Castle hit for 18 points, De’Aaron Fox tallied 17, Julian Champagnie added 14 and Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell had 12 each as San Antonio won its third straight game.

“We stayed pretty solid on defense,” Wembanyama said. “Everything could have been better. We went back to what we know offensively, because at some point, we’re just doing whatever.”

With 35 wins, the Spurs have already exceeded their total from last season.

Dallas dropped its sixth straight game despite a season-high 32 points from Naji Marshall and 32 from 19-year-old rookie Cooper Flagg.

Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to record four consecutive 30-point games. He is the first rookie since Michael Jordan in 1985 with four consecutive 30-point, five-rebound games.

“I think me and Naji have played a lot of minutes together this year and have been together for a long time,” Flagg said. “It’s just a relationship we built out there. We trust each other. Part of it is he plays the right way. I play the right way. So, it’s kind of easy to gel together and mesh with other groups out there.”

Max Christie added 20 points and Daniel Gafford scored 16 with 10 boards for the Mavericks in the loss. Dallas had just 10 players suited up for Thursday’s game as they await the four reinforcements obtained from the Washington Wizards in Wednesday’s Anthony Davis trade.

“There’s a lot to learn,” Flagg said about the loss to the Spurs. “We’ll watch the film, we’ll look at what worked and what didn’t. But I think there’s a lot to clean up.”

Before Flagg’s performance on Thursday, Jalen Green was the most recent rookie to score at least 30 points in four straight games, accomplishing that feat during the 2021-22 season when he collected five in a row while playing for Houston.

“Cooper’s had an incredible start to his NBA career,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s learning to play the game at a high level and accepted all the challenges. We’ve got a long runway with him and some of the other players in that locker room.”

Saturday’s contest is the first of a six-game road trip for the Mavericks that will be split by the All-Star break.

–Field Level Media