Google Debuted Curling Doodle Amid Winter Olympics Unofficially Opening With The Curling Preliminaries

The Mixed Doubles Curling kicked off the Milan Cortina Games 2026 with four preliminary games on Wednesday at Cortina Olympic Stadium.

Google Debuted Curling Doodle Amid Winter Olympics Unofficially Opening With The Curling Preliminaries

Cortina Curling Stadium, Google Curling Doodle (Images via Fox News/Google Doodles)

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On Wednesday, Google had a new doodle. Instead of the two ‘Os’ in the middle, the search engine had a curler slowly releasing the stone through the ‘rest of the letters, gle.’

Though the official inauguration, that is the opening ceremony, is still a day away, the Milan Cortina Games 2026 unofficially started yesterday with the mixed doubles curling preliminaries. The new Google doodle was in alignment with this unofficial start of the Winter Olympics. Google has previously reimagined its doodle during the PyeongChang Games in 2018 and the Beijing Games in 2022.

On February 4, there were four matches scheduled. Great Britain, Sweden, Canada, and Switzerland cruised to first victories in the preliminaries. The Swedes and the Canadians had comfortable wins against South Korea and Czechia. Great Britain, which is looking for its first medal in the event since it was introduced in PyeongChang, got the better of Norway.

Switzerland and Estonia were one of the most interesting games of the day. After tying 7-7 at the 8th end, the Swiss pair of Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann added two scores in the extra end to win their first game.

In today’s first round of games, Great Britain and Sweden secured their second wins of the preliminaries. Hosts Italy and the USA played their first games, both securing wins. The Italian pair and reigning gold medalists, Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, handed the Koreans their second loss.

The Norwegians, Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who won bronze in PyeongChang and silver in Beijing, had their second defeat. Later today, they will play the Canadiens in their third game of the round-robin round. In addition to curling, there were also the first official training sessions for Luge and Alpine Skiing on Wednesday.

The Swiss pair’s son was the star of the first day in the Cortina Curling Stadium

The Swiss curling mixed doubles pair and real-life couple, Yannick and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann, started dating sometime in May 2016. They got engaged in 2020 and married each other on July 15, 2022, at the Rapperswil Castle in northern Switzerland.

Yannick Schwaller, Briar Schwaller-Hurlimann
Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Hurlimann (Image via Watson)

The pair welcomed their first child in 2024, a baby boy named River Walter Schwaller. River was undoubtedly the star of the show yesterday after the Swiss pair’s late win over Estonia. After the end of the game, River was spotted on the sidelines with the curling broom.

In a cute little Schwaller jersey over a black hoodie, he was keen on playing with the brush, as seen in the since-viral videos. He has even earned the moniker of “Curling Baby.”

River comes from a generation of curlers. His paternal granddad and great-uncle, Christof and Andreas Schwaller, were part of the bronze-medal-winning team at the Turin Olympics 24 years ago. His paternal uncle, Kim Schwaller, medalled silver in the World Championships last year in Moose Jaw.

On his maternal side, granddad, Patrick Hurliman, won the gold medal in Nagano in 1998, and his grandmom was a World Championship bronze medallist.

The Swiss team started strong, 5-1 by End 5, before the Estonians added 6 scores in the last three ends. Even ahead of End 8, the Swiss had a strong lead of 7-3. The Estonian pair, Harri Lill and Marie Kaldvee, added four of those six in that one last end and extended the game to an extra end. Unfortunately, it didn’t end well for the World Mixed Doubles Curling 2024 runners-up

The Swiss pair and hopefully River will be back today with two games scheduled. Switzerland will be playing the United States in the early round and the Republic of Korea later at night. Meanwhile, the Estonians, who suffered a consecutive loss earlier today, have an outing against the blazing hot Swedes.

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