For USA Curling’s Danny Casper, qualifying for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics wasn’t the final hurdle; it was the beginning of a delicate conversation with his boss.

The 24-year-old pulled off a draw for four points during the ninth end, leading the team to a solid 9-4 win against China. With this victory, the United States men’s curling team has secured a spot in the Olympics for the seventh straight Winter Games. But amid his professional success, the skip has a personal concern for the future, one that connects his Olympic aspirations with the daily responsibilities he faces.

After the historic win, Casper opened up in a moment captured by The Olympic Games on X. “Well, he’s a curler, so he knows it pretty well,” Casper said of his boss.

“I want to be as good of an employee as I can be, but they knew there were some stipulations in there with this whole thing going on, so we’ll see what happens.”

The big thing he will be dealing with is asking his boss for a few days off from work.

Casper stands out from a lot of his international competitors because, while they’re full-time athletes backed by national programs, he’s juggling a regular job as a car salesman at Schmelz Countryside.

This dealership has been a family-run business since 1966, managed by three generations of the Schmelz family. He’s been working his way to the Olympics, juggling both his time on the ice and a demanding job. It’s taken a lot of understanding and flexibility from his employer to support his journey as an elite athlete.

Just a month back, Schmelz Countryside gave a shoutout to two of their employees who nailed it in sports, and one of them was Danny Casper.

On their official Facebook, Schmelz Countryside shared, “This week we celebrate 2 of our Employees on Amazing Accomplishments. Lance Knudson Achieved a FIRST PLACE FINISH at the Volkswagen National Dealer Skill Tournament. This Yearlong Journey began with all 600 VW Dealers in the United States Competing and ended last week in Florida after Finishing First in the Central Region and advancing to Compete against the other 4 Regional Winners. Congratulations to our Service Manager Lance!”

Then they added, “Danny Casper won the Olympic Trials for Curling over the Weekend in South Dakota. Claiming the honor to be the team moving forward to represent TEAM USA on the road to the next Winter Olympic Games in Italy 2026. Congratulations to Danny in our Sales Department.”

Casper’s journey to this point has been marked by extraordinary personal resilience.

Danny Casper on his condition that almost took him out of curling

About a year ago, Danny Casper found out he had Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), which is a pretty rare neurological condition. It knocked him down, leaving him unable to walk and wondering if he’d ever be able to curl again.

With medication and physical therapy, he worked tirelessly to return to full fitness.

He led his team, Luc Violette, Aidan Oldenburg, Ben Richardson, and Rich Ruohonen, to a great victory over the 2018 Olympic champion John Shuster, winning 7-5 and securing their place at the last-chance Olympic qualifier. His mentality behind such feats is remarkable.

“There are times where I just kind of use it to fire myself up, and I’m like, ‘I couldn’t walk a year ago: take that. I just beat you.’ So, maybe a little bit of that,” Casper talked about his GBS.

However, he remains humble, sharing, “But like what I was saying earlier, just the honor of being here, you know? Just a year ago, I didn’t know if I was ever going to curl. I still don’t feel good when I’m playing. But I’ve got a lot of people helping me, my teammates pick me up. And thank God, I don’t have to sweep.”

Now that Casper has achieved his Olympic dream, he’s focused on being a reliable employee just as much as he is on being a top-notch skip.