Competition at the 2026 Winter Paralympics started today, two days before the Opening Ceremony. The sport that opens the Paralympic program? Wheelchair curling mixed doubles, an event that has never appeared on the Paralympic schedule before.

Four matches are running this evening at the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The pair representing the United States is Laura Dwyer and Steve Emt, the first American team in the history of this event. Going into the debut, Emt is clear about what they're here for: "We are expected to win a medal. We're elite athletes. We understand that."

The Athletes Behind the Confidence

Dwyer is 48, from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. In 2012, a 1,000-pound tree branch fell on her and left her permanently paralyzed from the waist down. She found wheelchair curling seven years later. This is her first Paralympic Games.

Emt is 55, from DeForest, Wisconsin. He played basketball at West Point and then UConn under Jim Calhoun before discovering wheelchair curling in 2013. This is his third Paralympics, which makes him the first U.S. wheelchair curler to compete in three of them. From Calhoun's UConn program to three Paralympic appearances in an entirely different sport: the man does not settle for the sideline.

They won the U.S. Paralympic Curling Trials in Sioux Falls last November, 9-1 and 9-7 in a best-of-three final, and captured the national mixed doubles championship in early 2025. Their communication style on the ice is blunt by design. Dwyer prefers it that way: "I would rather a direct honesty about what's going on. Don't beat around the bush." Emt puts it this way: "We're cut from the same cloth. We are very competitive people. We care about each other." Their U.S. teammates have joked the two of them could use some couples therapy.

That bluntness extends to expectations. A ninth-place finish at the 2025 World Championships in Scotland is their main international benchmark. On paper, they're not the favorites. In their own accounting, they are.

Why the Format Is Worth Understanding

The version of wheelchair curling you may have watched at previous Games uses four players per team and eight rocks per end. Mixed doubles is a different game. Two players, six rocks, and no one to hand the decision off to. Every call, every miss lands directly on one of the two people on your team.

This leaner format demands more from each player individually, which is why it produces a different kind of match to watch. The World Curling Federation has run it at the world championship level for years, but getting it into the Paralympic program took until now. Eight nations qualified: Italy as host, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan, Latvia, Great Britain with Scotland's athletes, and Estonia.

Japan and South Korea have dominated this event on the world stage. South Korea won the world title in 2024; Japan took it in 2025 with an 11-2 final. What makes following Dwyer and Emt compelling is exactly that gap: a first-ever U.S. team, competing in a format they've only had limited international exposure in, going up against the current world powers with the expectation of winning hardware.

The how wheelchair curling works guide breaks down the rules, the scoring, and what makes mixed doubles different from the traditional event if you want to get up to speed before watching.

When to Watch

Round robin play runs through March 9. The gold and bronze medal games for mixed doubles are both March 11, more than a week of competition to follow before this story ends.

All of it is on Peacock. The opening ceremony is March 6 at 1:30 PM ET; competition streams through March 15. The Team USA Paralympic guide has the full schedule broken down by sport and athlete.

The opening ceremony is still two days away, and there's already curling to watch in Cortina.