America's Gen Z curlers bring new ways to traditional sport

Special Series 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics America's Gen Z curlers bring new ways to traditional sport February 11, 20264:15 AM ET Pien Huang U.S. Olympians Rich Ruohonen, Aidan Oldenburg, Casper, Richardson and Luc Violette attend the Team USA Welcome Experience at the 2026 Olympics on in Joe Scarnici/Getty Images hide caption For years, John Shuster of Superior, and Duluth, has been the face of U.S. curling. He represented the U.S. in the past five Winter Olympics, and his team won the first and only American gold medal in curling, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. Shuster carried the American flag in the of the 2022 Beijing Olympics. He was aiming for his sixth Winter Games. But the Midwestern dad and his team of seasoned curlers got beat at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for in November, by 24-year-old Danny Casper and his (mostly) team. Casper and his primary teammates Ben Richardson, Aidan and Luc Violette, all in their and Olympic first-timers, mark a new era in U.S. curling. "We understand how much it means, for us but also for the country," Casper says, "We want to do our best to represent everyone well, so we're definitely going to give it our all." 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics Watch: Madison Chock, Evan Bates and all you need to know about ice skating The competition at the Team Trials was fierce. It came down to the very last match. U.S. curling fans told NPR it was the best competition they'd seen in years. It was also civilized, with Team Shuster graciously conceding the loss. "Whatever you do, give it whatever you have and some days it's not enough, and that's Shuster said in a TV interview immediately after losing the final "Everyone needs to get behind those guys," he added, urging the stadium packed with mostly Shuster fans to support Team Casper in their Olympic run. Curling is a game of tradition, first played centuries ago on Scottish lochs, where players slide heavy granite rocks down a sheet of ice a target. Its code of ethics includes the "Spirit of Curling": You don't distract your opponents, you call your own and you respect each other and the game. "I want to respect the sport, and it's a great sport," Casper "At the same time, it's a small and if we want it to grow, we gotta do something about it." Casper and his teammates try to up the entertainment in their performances. His teammates Ben Richardson and Aidan Oldenburg are known to juggle before games. "We want to win, but we're here doing it because it's fun," Casper "If you show up at the arena and you've never watched curling before, why would you care that we just made a 'come around'? But if we start yelling at the crowd and pumping them up, dancing that's something, and then maybe they'll go try it themselves," Casper says. 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics American Ben Ogden wins silver, breaking 50 year medal drought for U.S. men's cross-country skiing A real team sport and curling are team sports — three players take turns throwing rocks a and using brooms to sweep their paths down the ice. A fourth player, the skip or team captain, calls the shots and throws the final rocks. The team whose rock is closest to the center of the target, or house, scores. They get a point for that rock, along with additional points for every other rock that's closer to the center than their opponent's nearest rock. At these elite levels, members have played on many other teams. Some have led their own top teams before joining this one. "I don't think about it as Team Casper," Danny Casper "I feel a little bit weird because it's my name and it feels a little selfish or something." It's been a special team effort for Casper, who developed syndrome about two years ago. It's a rare autoimmune condition that causes nerve damage, affecting Casper's hands and legs, and it kept him out of the game for several months. With medication and physical therapy, he's back to curling though he still suffers some of the effects. To help shore up the team, veteran curler Rich Ruohonen joined as a fifth man an experienced player and coach who can substitute in as needed. Ruohonen, 54 years old, is the oldest U.S. athlete at the Olympics. "It's been a long road. I've been so close so many times to the Olympics it was really emotional for me because I thought it was over," he says. "I figured I'd get there someday as a coach maybe, but to get there, even as an alternate, is just my dream." If he throws a rock, he'll go into history as the oldest U.S. athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics, besting figure skater Joseph Savage, who competed as a 52-year-old figure skater in the 1932 Lake Placid Games, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon. been competing at the top levels of curling for more than years longer than his team members have been alive. One of the changes, he says, is that sweeping has become more aggressive. "We didn't used to practice it. We weren't in the gym all the time," he "We used to throw a million rocks. Now we throw less rocks and we work out more." When he's not curling, Ruohonen is a partner at a personal injury law firm. He doesn't sleep much, he says. Most curlers hold jobs outside the sport. The women's team includes a pharmacist, a and a lab technician. Casper's team has a civil engineer and an environmental scientist. Casper was asked what he'd do after his big victory at the Olympic Trials. "I was going to drive home and go to work tomorrow," he said. He did, in fact, show up for his job at an Alfa Romeo car dealership the next day. The men's Olympics curling competition starts and finishes with the medal events 20-21. If they win at the curling stadium in Cortina, Team Casper may celebrate in a bigger way. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor