Curling, one of the least-dangerous Winter Olympic sports, is dominating the Milano Cortina 2026 world feed coverage through sheer volume alone. From two days before the Games began up to the last day, four games are played morning, afternoon and evening simultaneously, making the Curling Stadium in Cortina constantly busy, both in the ice rink and behind the scenes.
Susan Young and Brie Robertson are two of six directors working at the curling at this year’s Olympics. Each director has a complete production team working with them, and four teams operate at one time, each focused on a different lane of play.
For Young, this is her first Olympic Winter Games working as a director within a freelance career spanning 30 years. She has worked on eight Olympics in the past for Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), but under different job roles and in different sports. Meanwhile Robertson is now directing curling at her second Olympic Winter Games, after a 22 year long career in TV, with the last 16 years spent working as a freelancer.
Robertson comments on how it is going this year: “I think the curling is excellent this year, which is really nice. I feel like in the last eight years, curling in general has become more popular as an Olympic sport. We notice more people are watching curling compared to previous Olympic Games , especially the North American audiences. So it’s kind of fun.”
Young adds: “The crowds here are amazing, especially the Italian crowds; it’s very energetic inside the curling.”
Lights out
So far in the competition, almost everything has gone smoothly… apart from the one time it did not. Robertson explains: “The biggest thing that’s happened is the very first end of mixed doubles, the very first draw, there was a brief venue-wide power interruption.
“We’d been rehearsing for three days and had just got through our opening when, in the first end of the first draw, there was a brief power interruption at the venue. The generators kicked in immediately, and play was paused while everything reset.
“One of the coolest things here is that a lot of the cameras are RF; our cameras on the field of play are all RF, so there’s no cables to worry about,” continues Robertson. “When the power flickered, a few systems briefly went offline. But we were able to stay on air using our fixed cameras while the rest of the setup came back online, and the lights were restored.
“There were emergency lights on and everyone was safe; the play was stopped briefly. In the end it only lasted a couple of minutes, and once we were back up and running everyone kind of laughed, “okay, we’ve had our big moment, now we are good!”.”
Young adds on what it felt like at the time: “It’s a reminder of how complex live television can be, but OBS has strong contingency plans in place. We have holding graphics ready, presenters who can step in quickly, and very experienced technical teams. Everyone reacted calmly and professionally, and we recovered quickly.
“Because play was paused on the field of play, it gave us the opportunity to manage the situation cleanly from a broadcast perspective. We were able to get our graphics in place quickly and keep viewers informed. In the end, I think everyone was really pleased with how it was handled. The interruption itself was very brief, only a couple of minutes and everything was restored quickly. Once we were back up and running, we just moved forward.”
OBS guidance
At curling, OBS has two production managers on site, who work closely with the directors, offering guidance to ensure the coverage remains aligned across all feeds.
Young explains: “They are very supportive. If they like something they’ll say so, but they’ll also offer constructive feedback. For example, during the first timeout I covered, they suggested focusing more on the player than the coach. It’s small adjustments like that which helps refine the storytelling, and then you proceed.”
Robertson adds: “Given the scale of the operation, with six directors delivering four simultaneous feeds, trying to make everything look as consistent as possible is important for the media rights holders. You might have me directing a Canada game on one day and Susan the next, so it’s a about making sure that the overall coverage feels seamless. I think OBS has done a really good job of clearly communicating the philosophies and style they are aiming for, while still giving us the flexibility to bring our own personality to the coverage.”
Young agrees: “Before the Games, there was a strong emphasis on alignment and consistency. We all come from different backgrounds, whether it is World Curling events or major domestic competitions so coming together here means working on a shared approach.”
Loving Milano Cortina
On how this first experience directing the curling at the Olympics has been for Young, she says: “It’s been great. I feel really privileged to be here. It’s been a good experience. We have a big crew and I’ve found that everyone supports everyone else. I guess I was a little bit nervous because I’m probably the least experienced director, although I have a lot of experience in other roles, and so I came on board thinking, “oh my god, are people going to like answer my questions and be supportive?” and everyone’s been amazing. There’s no one that hasn’t gone out of their way to help me if I had a question so I feel very supported. It’s been a really good experience.”
Meanwhile Robertson adds on her second Games as a curling director: “A lot of thought went into building and making sure the compositions worked well. The leadership team did an excellent job of not only selecting the various directors, but also assembling strong support teams around us. It means every director is surrounded by experienced people across all areas of production, so the whole crew can operate at a really high level.
“I think it’s worked out really well because like Susan said, everyone’s getting along great. I think we’re having a lot of fun and I think that shows on air, because curling is a long event and can be a grind. You’re on air for seven hours a day between your two draws, so you really have to have fun and you have to enjoy working with the people you’re working with.”
However, Young says on being in the stunning backdrop of Cortina, surrounded by the Dolomites, that, “it’s hard to be in a bad mood when you step outside the control room and everywhere you look is like a postcard!”.
Young will remain in Italy to work on the Paralympic curling coverage for OBS, while Robertson will soon head home. In the meantime, both still have a lot to cover, and are enjoying the experience.
