Is there such a thing as bad publicity? At the Olympics, curling is finding out ... probably not

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The world of curling has spent decades trying to figure out a way to raise its profile beyond the “once-every-four-years” curiosity it becomes during the Winter Olympics.

Turns out, all it took was a graze of a finger on a 40ish-pound piece of granite, an allegation caught on camera followed by an impassioned expletive-laden response.

Social media and the white-hot spotlight that only the Games provide did the rest.

The animated back-and-forth between Sweden's Oskar Eriksson and Canada’s Marc Kennedy during a match Saturday night — when Eriksson accused Kennedy of an illegal “double touch” — managed to do in a handful of seconds what years of promotion by those within the sport that looks like a combination of shuffleboard, chess and vacuuming the living room could not: cut through the noise to push it to the front of the line, ahead of the skiers and skaters and snowboarders that typically dominate the conversation whenever the Games roll around.

Alina Paetz watched the proof unfold in real time. The longtime Swiss curler was scrolling on her phone over the weekend when she ran across a headline about it from celebrity-focused “People" magazine, not exactly considered a go-to for all things curling.

“That's pretty new,” Paetz said.

A lot of this kind of is.

Here is the delicate part for those within a sport that dates back centuries and is steadily cultivating a larger fanbase. Does it matter that the gateway for many into curling is two guys snapping at each other and not an exquisite takeout or a dramatic hammer that decides a match?

“I think that for curling, to grow the sport, publicity is good,” said Canadian Emma Miskew, a three-time world champion whose own skip — Rachel Homan — was accused of the same “double touch” violation as Kennedy. “But in this situation, it just was a little blown up. It was a little too far.”

On that, Mishew is right. The conversation grew so intense online that Nolan Thiessen, CEO of Curling Canada, told The Associated Press there have been “disgusting” emails directed toward family members of the Canadian team.

“That’s where it’s going to stop, right? We keep it on the ice,” Thiessen said. “If you want to hate our teams, that’s your right as a sports fan.”

Thiessen, however, also recognizes the opportunity all this has provided. The pushback by self-appointed curling experts — many of whom likely didn't know the hog line even existed until a few days ago — is tough to stomach. At the same time, curling has never been such a prominent part of the Olympic conversation.

“It's both sides of it, right?” he said. “You get the people reaching out that are really upset about the rules infraction. And then you get the people that are reaching out about the drama between the two teams.”

That second part is not nothing. There are many paths to fandom. Almost all of them have the same starting point: exposure. This time, the exposure seems to be wrapped up in what could best be described as Olympic catnip.

The fact that the teams at the Cortina Curling Center compete under the flag of the country they represent means there are built-in allegiances. Throw in a sport whose nuances are largely a mystery, mic up the athletes to provide an intimate glimpse, put national pride on the line in the form of Olympic medals and you've got all the ingredients necessary to get a foot in the door.

“I think that there’s value in creating people watching curling, people getting interested in curling,” said Kristian Heldin Lindstrom, manager of Sweden's women's Olympic team. “And if you start watching it, maybe you’re going to keep watching it because it is a very interesting sport, there is a lot of complexity to it.”

Nic Sulsky is kind of banking on it. The CEO of The Curling Group acquired the rights to the Grand Slam of Curling in 2024 in hopes of creating a sustainable professional league.

The organization pointed to the spring of 2026 as a potential launch date from the second it took over the Grand Slam. The Rock League will kick off with a one-week event in Toronto in April, when six teams of 10 curlers (five men and five women) will face off.

The calculus was easy. Sulsky, a Montreal native whose background is in gambling ventures, knew there would be a spike in interest in curling once the Olympics began, just like there always is.

The sport's ubiquity during the Games — the competition actually began two days before the opening ceremony and will wrap up with the women's gold-medal match just hours before the closing ceremony starts — combined with its relatability as one of the few Winter Olympic disciplines where danger isn't imminent, makes it a fun hang.

Sulsky felt April would be a chance to strike while the rock is hot. He just didn't envision it being quite this hot or being talked about in quite this way.

“Would we have all preferred if the world fell in love with curling because of an incredible curling shot? Sure," Sulsky told The AP. “But what do fans love more than anything else? They love personality, they love stars.”

And there was a realness in the exchange between Ericksson and Kennedy that wouldn't have been out of place on a soccer pitch or a hockey rink.

“All this has done is just shine a light on how competitive, how emotional and how interesting these athletes are,” he said.

The reality is, Ericksson and Kennedy's spat isn't that uncommon, particularly when it comes to double-touching.

The rule that bars those curling the stone from touching it with their fingers once they release it can be difficult to police. There's typically an honors system involved. There is no official video replay available to sort it out, leaving it up to the officials or the competitors themselves. It can lead to messily authentic moments like the one that went viral on Saturday night.

Given the massive stir it has created, maybe Kennedy and Ericksson were on to something.

Asked if this means curling could one day borrow a page from professional wrestling and give competitors microphones where they can cut promos before and after matches to create storylines in hopes of keeping a foothold in the public consciousness, Paetz laughed.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Who knows how it looks in five years? I think maybe it just stays the way it is right now."

And that might be more than enough.

Associated Press writer Julia Frankel contributed to this report.

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

Italy fans watch the men's curling round robin session against Britain, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Canada's Marc Kennedy in action during the men's curling round robin session against China, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Sweden's Oskar Eriksson, right, Christoffer Sundgren, second right, Rasmus Wranaa, left, and Niklas Edin, second left, in action during the men's curling round robin session against Italy, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

South Korea's Seol Ye-eun in action during the women's curling round robin session against Denmark, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2026--

Avanzanite Bioscience B.V., a rapidly growing commercial-stage European specialty pharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, today reported that its partner, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGIO), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts focused on delivering innovative medicines for patients with rare diseases, announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorisation for PYRUKYND® (mitapivat), an oral pyruvate kinase (PK) activator, in adults for the treatment of anaemia associated with transfusion-dependent and non-transfusion-dependent alpha- or beta-thalassaemia, with an orphan medicinal product designation.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260522186975/en/

“Thalassaemia is a complex, chronic and multisystem disease characterised by anaemia, ineffective erythropoiesis and haemolysis, which together place a significant burden on patients, including a substantial impact on quality of life and persistent fatigue,” commented Raffaella Origa M.D., PhD., Professor of Paediatrics at University of Cagliari, Italy and President of the Italian Society of Thalassaemia and Haemoglobinopathies (SITE). “The approval of PYRUKYND in the EU represents an important step forward, introducing a new oral treatment option regardless of genotype or transfusion burden, with the potential to address key aspects of the disease, including reducing transfusion burden and improving patient outcomes.”

The EC’s decision follows the positive opinion issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) and is based on results from the global, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled ENERGIZE and ENERGIZE-T Phase 3 trials. The approval of PYRUKYND for adults with thalassaemia marks its second indication in the EU, following its 2022 approval for adults with PK deficiency.

“The treatment of thalassaemia continues to place a profound burden on patients and healthcare systems,” said Antonis Kattamis M.D., Professor at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and an investigator in the PYRUKYND thalassaemia Phase 3 clinical program. “An oral therapy such as PYRUKYND has the potential to transform the care of both transfusion-dependent and non-transfusion-dependent patients, and we welcome being able to provide this option in our clinical practice.”

In June 2025, Avanzanite entered into an exclusive agreement with Agios to commercialise and distribute PYRUKYND across the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Avanzanite will continue to work closely with Agios, local health authorities and patient communities to secure access for PYRUKYND across the EU.

“Today’s approval of Agios’ first-in-class PK activator in the EU is great news for adults living with thalassaemia and we are proud and privileged to partner with Agios to distribute and commercialise this medicine in the region,” said Adam Plich, CEO and Co-Founder of Avanzanite Bioscience. “Our role now is to collaborate with local authorities, drive a successful launch, and enable broad access to PYRUKYND in this indication, helping to ensure no thalassaemia patient is left behind, across the EU.”

This milestone represents the fourth rare disease launch that Avanzanite has led, further demonstrating the strength of its pan-European commercial platform. With a ‘Champions League’ team of more than 100 rare disease professionals conducting operations spanning 32 European countries, the company is well-positioned to partner with biotech innovators to deliver transformative therapies to patients across Europe.

About Thalassaemia

Thalassaemia is a rare, inherited blood disease that affects the production of haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body. The disease is categorised into two main types: alpha-thalassaemia and beta-thalassaemia, depending on which globin chain of the haemoglobin is affected. By disrupting haemoglobin production, thalassaemia reduces the number of circulating red blood cells and shortens their lifespan, which leads to anaemia, fatigue, and serious complications.

Some individuals with thalassaemia require regular transfusions (classified as transfusion-dependent thalassaemia), while others only need them intermittently (classified as non-transfusion-dependent thalassaemia). All patients with thalassaemia experience a significant disease burden, including comorbidities, reduced quality of life and shortened life expectancy.

About ENERGIZE and ENERGIZE-T

ENERGIZE ( NCT04770753 ) and ENERGIZE-T ( NCT04770779 ) are global, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of mitapivat in adults with alpha- or beta-thalassaemia.

The ENERGIZE trial randomised 194 non-transfusion-dependent alpha- or beta-thalassaemia patients 2:1 to receive either mitapivat 100 mg twice daily or placebo. The primary endpoint was haemoglobin response, defined as an increase of ≥1.0 g/dL in average haemoglobin concentration from Week 12 through Week 24 compared with baseline. Key secondary endpoints included changes from baseline in average fatigue scores and in average haemoglobin concentration from Week 12 to Week 24. The trial also assessed safety and tolerability.

The ENERGIZE-T trial randomised 258 transfusion-dependent alpha- or beta-thalassaemia patients 2:1 to receive either mitapivat 100 mg twice daily or placebo. The primary endpoint was transfusion reduction response, defined as a ≥50% reduction in transfused red blood cell (RBC) units with a reduction of ≥2 units of RBCs transfused in any consecutive 12-week period through Week 48 compared with baseline. Several transfusion reduction measures were included as key secondary endpoints, and achievement of transfusion independence was a secondary endpoint. The trial also assessed safety and tolerability.

For each trial, patients who completed the double-blind period had the option to transition into a corresponding open-label extension period, during which all patients receive mitapivat.

About Avanzanite Bioscience

Avanzanite is redefining launches of rare disease medicines across Europe. Founded in 2022 and based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the company partners with biotech innovators to unlock the full commercial value of orphan medicines through a fully integrated platform spanning 32 countries. With our deep expertise in market access, we navigate Europe’s complex landscape like master chess players – ensuring no patient is left behind while delivering measurable impact and growth opportunities for alliance partners.

For more information, visit www.avanzanite.com.

Adam Plich, CEO and Co-Founder of Avanzanite Bioscience.