Oregon woman to prepare Olympic curling ice in Milan for Winter Games

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon woman who began curling seven years ago after watching the Winter Olympics has been selected to help create the competition ice for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

Lauren Rich, a full-time employee with Team USA Curling, will join the World Curling Federation’s ice crew in Italy for about a month, according to an interview she gave at the Evergreen Curling Club outside Portland. She will be the only American on the international team responsible for preparing the Olympic curling sheets.

Rich helps maintain competition-ready ice by “pebbling,” a process that involves spraying purified water onto the surface in tiny droplets that freeze on contact. The bumps—called pebbles—allow curling stones to glide. She said most pebble heads use a size 64 nozzle, and maintaining consistency is crucial.

“One thing that we’re always watching is how the snow is building up on the blade,” Rich said. “If it’s even all the way across, that means we have really good pebble. All of these things need to be flat and even throughout the course of the event.”

After pebbling, ice makers scrape, or “nip,” the surface to ensure each pebble is a uniform height. If the pebble is uneven, Rich said, the ice can develop “waves” and break down during gameplay, requiring the crew to start over.

Rich, a former research engineer, first walked into a curling club in 2018 after becoming interested in the sport during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. 

“I signed up for ‘Learn to Curl,’ and I went and I tried curling,” she said. “Here I am.”

She said she was surprised when the head ice technician for World Curling called and asked if she wanted to join the Olympic crew. “My phone rang one day… and he was like, ‘Hey, we have this thing called the Olympics. Do you want to go?’”

Rich said the opportunity to help prepare elite-level ice for the world’s top curlers is something she will “remember forever.”

“I think it’s just really incredible to be a part of that and to watch that build up and watch that grow,” she said.