Third U.S. title for sibling squad
Rebecca and Matt Hamilton are back in the world mixed doubles curling championship after ending the reign of Cory and Korey.
The brother and sister combo defeated defending national champions Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin 7-6 to win the 2024 U.S. Mixed Doubles Curling Championship at Traverse City, Mich.
Thiesse and Dropkin are also the current world champions.
The Hamiltons trailed 5-2 after five ends before mounting a stirring comeback. The siblings scored three points in the sixth end, stole the seventh and, in a wild finish, won a biter measurement in the eighth for a 7-6 victory.
The world mixed doubles championship runs Apr. 20-27 in Östersund, Sweden.
The partnership of Aileen Geving and John Shuster took bronze with a 7-4 win over Taylor Anderson and Ben Richardson.
The latter squad lost their semifinal 8-7 in an extra-end to the Hamiltons, while Thiesse and Dropkin took out Geving/Shuster 9-4 in their semi.
The eventual champions scored yet another taut victory in the quarterfinal round, taking three coming home to beat Kim Rhyme and Jason Smith by a 7-6 scoreline.
Vicky Persinger and Daniel Casper lost the other quarterfinal 10-5 to Geving/Shuster.
The Hamiltons had to advance to the playoffs through a tiebreaker round, where they walloped Sarah Anderson and Andrew Stopera 9-1.
The champions ended up with a 9-2 won/loss record for the week, while Thiesse/Dropkin finished at 8-1.
The Hamiltons have won two previous national mixed doubles titles, at Blaine, Minn. in 2017 and Middleton, Wisc. in 2022.