Paralympic Curling Debut Rocked by Theft of Stones on Opening Night

Two $960 curling stones were stolen from the Milano Cortina stadium ahead of the Paralympics. Replacement stones allowed the Italy-South Korea match to proceed.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 5, 2026, 10:46 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from BroBible.

The wheelchair curling event at the 2026 Paralympics, which features the international debut of mixed doubles, was nearly derailed by a theft at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. When organizers arrived on Wednesday morning for the start of the eight-end matches, they discovered that two stones from the yellow set on Sheet A had disappeared overnight.

The missing stones are specialized pieces of equipment produced by a Scottish company using granite sourced from a single island. Each stone is valued at approximately $960, making the theft a significant financial loss, though experts note that the unique nature of the items would make them extremely difficult to resell without detection.

To ensure the competition could proceed, officials sourced spare stones and treated them to meet the necessary specifications for the ice. These replacements were used by South Korea in their opening match against the host nation, Italy, which resulted in a 7-5 victory for the Italians. Local police are actively investigating the stadium breach, but they have not yet reported any leads or suspects in the case.