20 January 2024

United States off to winning start at Youth Olympics

The opening day of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games got underway today (20 January) in the seaside town of Gangneung, Korea. Altogether, 16 mixed teams representing their National Olympic Committees had their first games on the Olympic ice. 

Read the event preview for full competition details.

Group A

Nigeria made their debut as the first ever African nation to play curling at a Youth Olympics. Both Japan and Türkiye defeated the Nigerians, leaving them in search of their first victory. 

At the top of the table, China, Sweden and United States now lead the group with two wins.

American lead, Teagan Thurston commented on her team’s performance in their first game against Norway, “I think we played well for our first game. There are always things we can improve but we played well and we’re going to keep getting better from here.” 

When it comes to team chemistry, she says having fun will be key to any success, “We all like each other, we’re all really good friends, we are able to joke around even under pressure and it’s a lot of fun.”

In the evening session, Sweden earned their second win of the day, after a Scandinavian meeting against Norway, 10-7. Sweden skip Vilmer Nygren remained calm under pressure, making a perfect draw to the four-foot against two Norwegian counters to avoid an extra end. 

“I felt that the ice was good for me and it was really easy to control the speed,” said Sweden’s third Astrid Linder.

“It’s going great, I feel like it’s very fun to play with them.”

In a back and forth effort, China stole two to win against Japan, 7-6, after Japan’s final draw slid too far in the last end. 

Group B

With just one game played, Great Britain, Italy, Korea and Switzerland got off to winning starts. 

Korea made the home crowd happy with a score of six in their first end against Brazil, on way to a 17-1 victory. The Swiss maintained control against Germany, scoring three in the second end and four in the fifth for a 11-2 win. 

In a game that was tied 2-2 after four ends, Italy took the reins against Canada with three points in the fifth and two more in the seventh for a 7-3 score playing the last end. 

Italy managed to run the Canadians out of stones, despite a few missed shots throughout the end to win, 8-3.“I’m very happy because I thought it would be a hard game,” said Italy’s skip Andrea Gilli. 

“And it was, but fortunately in the fifth end we took three and after that it felt good for us. But I’m happy, really happy, because I think it will be an important game for qualification. We are excited for this competition.”

Gilli claims a switch in strategy after the fourth end was the secret to their success. “We changed our weight [after the fourth end], we played with the house more open and no guards and it helped us, so I think it was the right decision. The quality of both teams were the same and it was nice for us to play this way.”

Round robin group play will continue until Wednesday 24 January.

Click here for results and standings. 
Watch the Olympics live stream here.
Watch the replays here.

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