Two former Southborough residents have been spending a lot of time on with their partners on the ice this winter to prepare for major competitions. One is now headed to his first Olympic competition, and the other just competed at a national championship.
Figure Skater Naomi Williams
Earlier this month, Southborough native Naomi Williams and her partner competed at the US National Championships for Pairs Figure Skating on January 9th. They finished 9th place out of 10. (I get the impression that the following story was written prior to the competition, though it wasn’t published until last week.):
Southborough native making waves in skating world — Community Advocate, Jan 24, 2026
There’s no freer feeling than those chaotic-but-controlled movements for 18-year-old Naomi Williams. The Southborough native finds herself spinning – almost flying – in the air, with her skating partner Lachlan Lewer ready to catch her. . .
Today, she’s several years into her career, competing for the fourth time in the Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championship.
Though the pair was not competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team due to Lewer’s Australian citizenship, there are plenty of big competitions ahead. The pair was selected as a second alternate for the 2026 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. (read more)
It’s not clear to me, but if you have a Peacock subscription, you may be able to stream the January 9th competition (which included a Free Skate and Short Program).
As for their possible competition as alternates in the upcoming junior championships, you can look for more information closer to the March competition here.
Curler Korey Dropkin
Readers may be familiar with native Korey Dropkin from past coverage of his Curling accomplishments. That includes competing in the junior Olympics. This year he and his partner (Cory Thiesse) are headed to Italy to compete at the XXV Olympics Winter Games (Milano Cortina 2026).
Dropkin has gotten a fair amount of coverage. Here are some examples with excerpt highlights:
Dropkin, Thiesse find balance in each other — The Grand Slam of Curling, The January 29, 2026
In their first season as a team, the mixed doubles duo of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin found themselves in the semifinals of a world championship against Team Canada. If they were tight, nobody would have known. If there were nerves, they weren’t showing. . .
The teammates rode their wave of positivity through the semifinals and won the gold at the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. . .
Three years after their run to gold, the two friends are pinching themselves as they head to Cortina, Italy, in hopes of chasing another medal of the same colour. . .
“It’ll be wild to be playing with the (Olympic) rings all around us,” Dropkin said. “Living out our dream and doing so with some of our closest supporters there watching us.” (read more)
Olympic games a long time coming for Team USA curler Korey Dropkin — WDSU News 6, Jan 21, 2026
curling didn’t become an Olympic medal sport until the 1998 games in Nagano
Fast forward a few years to the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Korey Dropkin was 6 years old watching on TV, and it was love at first sight.
“I was born and raised growing up at the curling club,” Dropkin said. . .
“Just knowing that if I keep my head down and I keep working hard and dreaming big, I could get there, and it might not be smooth because it hasn’t been smooth sailing, but if I don’t let up, if I keep going i can get there,” Dropkin said. (read more)
And the TV story that first alerted me that Dropkin had started making headlines again was a fun local news feature that mentions Dropkin’s old hometown of Southborough:
Learn curling lingo with Southborough’s Korey Dropkin — NBC 10 WJAR, Jan 21, 2026
The duo is scheduled to compete on February 5th against Norway.
