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Korey Dropkin dethrones John Shuster atop U.S. curling; Tabitha Peterson extends reign as mom

Korey Dropkin has skipped the first team to win a U.S. Curling Championship over John Shuster’s team in nine years.

Dropkin, Thomas Howell, Andrew Stopera and Mark Fenner — the “Young Bucks” — beat the 2018 Olympic champion Shuster and his team 11-3 in a Saturday semifinal in Duluth, Minnesota.

Then Dropkin’s team rallied to take Sunday’s championship final 8-6 in an extra end over a team skipped by Danny Casper. Casper had been 8-0 at nationals, including two wins over Dropkin.

A team skipped by two-time Olympian Tabitha Peterson later won the women’s title for the fourth time in the last five years. It marked Peterson’s first national title as a mom after having daughter Noelle on Nov. 25.

Shuster had won the last five men’s national championships in which he competed, a run that began in 2017. Shuster did not compete at nationals in 2018 (won by Greg Persinger) or 2021 (won by Dropkin).

At the last Olympic Trials in 2021, Dropkin beat Shuster in the first game of the best-of-three championship series. Then Shuster won the last two to make his fifth consecutive Olympic team. Shuster’s team finished fourth at the 2022 Olympics.

Everyone on Dropkin’s team is between 27 and 30 years old. Everyone on Shuster’s team is between 34 and 42.

The winning men’s and women’s teams at the Olympic Trials in November in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, are in line to compete at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, should the U.S. qualify quota spots through international results.

Shuster, who made his Olympic debut the last time Italy hosted in 2006, is bidding to become the second American to compete in six Winter Games after Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick from 1994 through 2014.

The U.S. Olympic Trials for mixed doubles curling are Feb. 17-23 in Lafayette, Colorado, with live coverage on Peacock and CNBC. A full broadcast schedule is here.

In 2025, Olympic and Paralympic sports events will determine the favorites for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.