On the ice, these curlers are scowling at each other. Off the ice, they're happily married

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — When Kristin Skaslien brushed off her husband's playful prod, it was hardly grounds for a divorce. Yet it sure revealed some tension in Norway’s curling team at the Winter Olympics.

Then again, giving each other the cold shoulder is hardly new for Skaslien and partner Magnus Nedregotten, one of three married couples in the mixed doubles field at the Milan Cortina Games.

They’ve screamed at each other, exchanged stony glances, rejected high-fives and pats of comfort. Then, after each match, they’ve emerged in good spirits, dismissing their discord as normal.

“A little bit of arguing and discussions isn’t necessarily bad for us,” Skaslien said.

Stress levels are rising at the Olympic Ice Stadium with the semifinals in sight — and the married couples told The Associated Press that good communication is the key to success.

For Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant of Canada and Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann of Switzerland, there's an added wrinkle: both brought their young children to the Olympics.

Adding to the family feel is Sweden's brother-and-sister team Rasmus and Isabella Wranå, who are curling together after growing up as rivals. Their coach, Alison Kreviazuk, finds it easier to coach siblings than couples.

“If you quarrel with your siblings, you find a way back. They're used to that dynamic of maybe play-fighting a little bit,” she said. “Bella can be on the hotter end, and Rasmus is very cool, so it’s a good combination.”

Skaslien and Nedregotten, bronze medalists at Pyeongchang in 2018, have a routine after coming off the ice. They call it the “hot wash.”

“Just after finishing a game, we say one emotion to each other,” Nedregotten told the AP. “I will say I’m angry, she will say ‘I’m pissed.' Then we go for half an hour to our separate spaces and come back together to analyze what was actually the objective. We usually manage to shake it off."

“Sometimes we are our own worst enemies out there,” Skaslien added. “We have to keep it down and not get over the top, because it can get really messy.”

They got together in 2008, when Skaslien was competing in the European curling championship and Nedregotten was working on the ice crew. She spotted the quirky fellow as he bopped around the bleachers wearing a wig. They spoke for the first time at a honky-tonk curling party (yes, you read that correctly) in spring 2011.

When Skaslien went abroad for an internship, Nedregotten volunteered to “water her plants” -- which is to say, he moved in. A year later, they teamed up for mixed doubles.

Curling isn’t exactly ice hockey. Physical fights don’t erupt on the ice. If you ask curling couples how competing together impacts their relationship, and they’ll tell you everything is dandy.

Still, curlers’ facial expressions and interactions on the ice tell a somewhat different story.

It’s an intimate — at times agonizing — sport. Between each throw curlers must consult with their partners about where to place their next stone, a task that often involves barking commands – and settling disagreements -- in yells across the ice, their words audible to crowds and the opposing team.

No one scrutinizes a mixed doubles curler’s throws and sweeping as much as their partner. They win together, they lose together. And if they’re married, they then have to go home together.

“There’s only two of you. You’re on an island,” said Devin Heroux, a longtime curling commentator for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Information sharing. communication and being able to embrace and adapt to the changing conditions will be what allows one of these teams to win gold.”

As the Norwegians bicker, the Swiss and Canadian teams keep it more low-key. Indeed, Schwaller and Schwaller-Hürlimann have been the closest thing to lovebirds in the mixed doubles field — exchanging a quick kiss prior to their match.

That doesn't mean everything's perfect, and Schwaller took the fall for being the occasional instigator.

“In the past, I was like just really nice and now sometimes I’m not nice. So I need to apologize and everything is good again,” he said.

After the match, they headed straight for their one year old, River. Photos of him carrying a broom roughly double his size made him an overnight sensation in the curling community, with fans dubbing him the “Curling baby.”

Schwaller-Hurlimann said it broke her heart to see him so sparingly between games.

“After today’s game, when I had to give him back, he was crying and it was hard for me," she said. "That was the first time my mum heart was bleeding.”

As for the Canadians, it's not obvious by their conduct they are husband and wife.

“They’re both very professional in the way they handle things," said their coach, Scott Pfeifer.

Gallant says communication is “honestly, always a work in progress.” When it's flowing, he said, “we seem to have success.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Norway's Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien gesture, during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Czechia, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, of Canada, compete during a curling mixed doubles round robin session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller, left, celebrates with Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann, after winning the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against south Korea at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller, left, and Yannick Schwaller strategize during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Sweden's Rasmus Wranaa and Isabella Wranaa hug during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Canada, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Canada's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman speak,during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Sweden, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann kiss during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Britain, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Norway's Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien in action during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Estonia, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican senator who had effectively blocked confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve said Sunday he was dropping his opposition after the Department of Justice ended its investigation of the current central bank chair.

The announcement by Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina removes a big hurdle to Trump's effort to install Kevin Warsh, a former high-ranking Fed official, in the job in place of Jerome Powell, long under White House pressure to lower interest rates. Tillis' opposition was enough to stall the nomination in the GOP-controlled Senate Banking Committee as Powell neared the scheduled end of his term on May 15.

“I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Warsh. I think he’s going to be a great Fed chair,” Tillis told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” two days after the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said her office’s investigation of the Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovations was over. Powell's brief congressional testimony last summer about that work was also under review.

The Fed's internal watchdog is scrutinizing a project, now at $2.5 billion after earlier estimates had put it at $1.9 billion, that the Republican president has criticized for cost overruns. Powell had asked in July for the inspector general's review.

“I believe that there will not be any wrongdoing. May we find a little stupid here in terms of somebody responsible for the project making a decision they shouldn't? Maybe. But it doesn’t rise to a criminal prosecution. That was my problem to begin with because I feel like there were prosecutors in D.C. that thought this was going to be a lever to have Mr. Powell leave early," he said.

Tillis, who infuriated Trump in June for opposing his big tax and spending cuts bill over Medicaid reductions and then announced he would not seek reelection in 2026, added that he had received assurances from the Justice Department that “the case is completely and fully settled … and that the only way an investigation would be opened would be a criminal referral from one of the most respect inspector generals.”

The committee on Saturday said it planned to vote Wednesday on Warsh's nomination. The ranking Democrat, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, responded with a statement that "no Republican claiming to care about Fed independence should support moving forward the nomination of Kevin Warsh, who proved in his nomination hearing to be nothing more than President Trump’s sock puppet.”

At a hearing last week, Warsh told senators he never promised the White House that he would cut interest rates and pledged to be “an independent actor” if confirmed as chair. Hours before that, Trump had been asked in a CNBC interview whether he would be disappointed if Warsh did not immediately cut rates. “I would,” the president said.

Without the constraints of a political campaign, Tillis has spoken out forcefully about Powell, decrying the inquiry by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a longtime Trump ally, as a “vindictive prosecution” and suggested it threatened the Fed’s longtime independence from day-to-day politics. Tillis told NBC that he had gotten assurances from the Justice Department that he needed "to feel like they were not using DOJ as a weapon to threaten the independence of the Fed. So this will allow Mr. Warsh to move on with his confirmation.”

On Saturday, Trump was asked by reporters whether there was now smooth sailing for Warsh with the end of the Justice Department's investigation. “I imagine it's smooth,” Trump said, adding that his nominee “is going to be fantastic.” The president said he still wanted to find out “how can a building of that size cost ... whatever it’s going to be.”

Trump visited the Fed building in July and, in front of television cameras, said the renovations would run $3.1 billion. Powell, standing next to him, said after looking at a paper presented to him by Trump, that the president's latest price tag was incorrect.

The investigation was among several undertaken by the Justice Department into Trump’s perceived adversaries. For months it had failed to gain traction as prosecutors struggled to articulate a basis to suspect criminal conduct. Other efforts by the department to prosecute Trump’s adversaries, including New York state Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, and former FBI Director James Comey, have also been unsuccessful.

Last month, a federal judge quashed Justice Department subpoenas issued to the Fed in the investigation, describing their purpose as “to harass and pressure Powell to resign” and open the path for a new chair. A prosecutor handling the Powell case had acknowledged at a closed-door court hearing that the government had not found any evidence of a crime.

Pirro said Friday on X that she "will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”

Trump appointed Powell as chair in 2017 during his first administration and has for years attempted to pressure the central bank to cut short-term interest rate.

Even after a new Fed chair is in place, Powell could elect to stay on the board to finish his term as a Fed governor, which lasts until January 2028. He has told reporters he had not yet decided whether to do so.

Warsh is a financier and former member of the Fed’s board of governors. Trump nominated him January.

FILE - President Donald Trump listens to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speak during a visit to the Federal Reserve, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during the confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh, nominee for Federal Reserve chair, on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Kevin Warsh testifies during his nomination hearing to be a member and chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addresses students at Harvard University, March 30, 2026, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during the confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh, nominee for Federal Reserve chair, on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)