Team USA has officially been eliminated from Curling Mixed Doubles after dropping matches to Switzerland and Great Britain on the final day of round robin play. The two losses put the American pair in eighth place. The top-4 teams — Italy, Norway, Great Britain and Sweden, in that order — advanced to the semifinals, set to begin Monday morning at 7:05 EST.
Entering Sunday tied for sixth place and facing elimination, the U.S. faced off against Switzerland. They kept things even through seven ends, but the Swiss pulled out a power play point in the final end to win 6-5, ending the Americans’ hopes of advancing to bracket play.
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Persinger and Plys returned to the ice 13 hours later to take on Great Britain. They were unable to end on a victory, losing by a final score of 8-4.
While Persinger’s Olympic debut has come to an end, Plys will have another chance to compete in the men’s team competition alongside gold medalist John Shuster. Round robin play is scheduled to begin Wednesday at 8:05 EST.
Shuster, one of the flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing, notably led his team to the gold in PyeongChang, the first ever medal for the U.S. in any curling event. His team overcame doubts from the U.S. Curling Association and played major upset to many gold-medal favorites, earning the name “miracurl on ice.”