Cortina awakens to embrace competitive curling couples and Vonn’s valiant gold bid | Andy Bull

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO – The sun climbs so slowly over the jagged Dolomite rim that dawn feels almost reluctant, yet the town’s Olympic pulse is already beating inside the 1956-era arena a short stroll from the Prada-lined corso. There, on ice that has seen figure-skating royalty, Britain’s Bruce Mouat and Jenn Dodds are turning mixed-doubles curling into a masterclass of precision and poise.

By mid-morning they have stretched their winning streak to six, dispatching Canada’s married pair Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman 7-5 after Mouat’s hammer in the opening end set an unforgiving tone. An hour later the Scots account for the previously unbeaten United States duo 8-6, securing a semi-final berth with sessions to spare. “How many times are they playing today?” a German photographer mutters. The answer—twice more today, twice again tomorrow—draws a groan: “This is worse than cricket.”

The rink’s hush is broken only by Peterman’s urgent instructions—“Harder! Keep going! Yes!”—but the stone’s glide remains hypnotic, a balm for a town still sweeping last night’s confetti from its art-deco squares. Cortina, all cashmere and couture pop-ups, feels suspended in a 1950s postcard; the curling, paradoxically, is the fastest thing moving.

Fifteen minutes up the valley, however, speed is measured in kilometres per hour, not centimetres. On the downhill training piste Lindsey Vonn, 41 and racing in a knee brace after rupturing her ACL only days earlier, clocks 1min 38.28sec to go third-fastest behind teammate Breezy Johnson. A compression on an early jump sends a collective gasp through the gathered crowd, yet Vonn never blinks, disappearing into the fog toward what could become the signature duel of these Games against Johnson, Germany’s Emma Aicher and 2018 champion Sofia Goggia of Italy.

Between the two venues lies the entire spectrum of Olympic rhythm: the whisper-quiet chess of curling couples, the white-knuckle blur of downhill. Cortina, finally awake, is watching both with equal fascination.