This gentleman has attracted attention in the first days of the Olympic Games curling tournament #MilanoCortina2026 , but what he is doing makes perfect sense and has an interesting explanation. Believe it or not, while he appears to be doing the ‘Michael Jackson’, he’s deciding how the match will be played. The surface of curling is ice, yes, but it’s not played on smooth ice but on 𝙥𝙚𝙗𝙗𝙡𝙚 or pebbles, which are small, sprayed water droplets. Pebbles are created by spraying hot water in microdroplets onto the already frozen surface.
As they solidify, these droplets form small raised points that reduce direct contact between the stone and the ice. Thanks to the pebbles, the stone can slide, spin, and curve. Without them, the stone would slow down quickly, making the game impossible. Furthermore, the height, density, and distribution of the pebbles determine the speed of the ice. High pebbles produce fast ice, while low or worn pebbles cause the stones to slow down more quickly.
And why is he walking backward [like a moonwalk] with those repetitive movements? It’s completely normal for the pebble to be applied like that, and it’s not a matter of habit but of technique. He aims to maintain a constant speed, a stable height, and a uniform spray angle, which allows the micro-droplets of water to fall evenly across the entire surface of the ice. This evenness is key for the pebble to behave the same way across the entire rink. Furthermore, freshly applied pebble is extremely fragile. That is, if our ice maker were to walk forward, he would step on the droplets before they have finished freezing, crushing them and altering their shape.
