10 December 2025
Norway, Japan and USA women to play for two Olympic spots
The women’s round robin came to a close following a draw to the button, extra end win by Norway to hand Japan their first loss, 10-9. The victory lifted Norway to the top of the standings, claiming first place through round robin, with Japan finishing in second and United States in third.
The result also set up an immediate rematch: Norway and Japan will meet in the first play-off game tomorrow (December 10) at 14:00. The winner will qualify directly for the Olympic Winter Games, while the loser will move into the second playoff game for another chance to reach the Games.
Earlier in the day, Japan defeated Estonia, 9-2, while Norway earned a narrow 6–5 victory against Czechia.
Following Norway’s win over Japan, skip Marianne Rørvik said, “That was a great win. We had a really good end where we scored four – that was lucky.”
“Making the Olympic Games has been the goal since we formed this team six years ago. I’ve been there once before, and I know how fun it is. It’s something else compared to playing at the worlds, so it’s a big goal to get there.”
Elsewhere in the final women’s round-robin session, United States faced Germany in a must-win matchup. Earlier, the Americans had defeated Türkiye 10–4, while Germany had beaten Australia 8–4.
United States held a 6–5 lead entering the tenth end. Germany’s fourth, Kim Sutor, attempted a triple take-out, but failed to dislodge a cluster of American stones around the button, giving USA the 9–5 win.
The Americans now advance to the second play-off game, where they will face the loser of Norway vs. Japan for the final Olympic berth.
In the other Tuesday evening results, Türkiye edged Australia 8–7 to finish fifth overall, with Australia placing seventh. Estonia defeated Czechia 7–4, finishing sixth, while the Czechs placed eighth.
USA men join China in play-offs
China and United States men have secured first and second place in the play-offs tomorrow (Dec 10). The third and final spot is still to be decided among Japan, Philippines and Netherlands in the last round robin session.
This means that China and United States both have two chances for Olympic qualification. They will play each other in the first qualification game, with the winner Cortina-bound. The loser will go on to a last chance play-off against whichever of the other contenders emerges, with the winner of that game completely the ten-team Olympic field.
During Tuesday’s only men’s session, China faced Poland. By the seventh end, China held a 4-0 lead. Poland skip Konrad Stych then attempted an in-off hit, but got his angles wrong, to give up a steal of three to increase China’s lead to 7-0. Poland then conceded.
Philippines faced United States, with both teams still battling for the play-offs. By the fourth end, the Americans held a 4-1 lead when their skip Daniel Casper scored three more points with a final draw onto the button to improve his team’s lead to 7-1.
United States went on to win by 9-3 and results elsewhere meant that this was enough for them to qualify for the play-offs, while Philippines have one last chance to join them tomorrow.
After this win, Casper said, “the last two games we’ve definitely started to play better. It took us as little bit more time than we would have liked, but we got there and hopefully, we’ll get the results.”
He added, “I deliberately try not to think about the prospect of becoming an Olympian. There’s a lot of work still to be done. It’s good to enjoy the process along the way and be grateful for it, but… just step by step.”
Japan were also fighting for a play-off slot when they faced New Zealand in this session.
Japan had the better of the first half of the game, and led by 5-2 as the teams played the seventh end. New Zealand skip Anton Hood then came into the house off one of his own stones, to score one point and reduce the Japanese lead to 5-3. But Japan then went on to win by 7-3, a result that keeps their play-off hopes alive.
Speaking later Japan skip Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi said, “this was a very important game – we want to qualify so we simply have to win. We did win, so we’re happy! Today’s performance was not that good, but we’ll let bygones be bygones. Tomorrow is a new day and we will be on fire!”
Netherlands were still battling for a play-off place as they played Korea. The lead in this back-and-forth game changed hands five times, and then it went to an extra end, tied at 7-7.
In that end, Dutch skip Wouter Goesgens had last stone, but he came up short with his final draw attempt, giving Korea a steal of one and a 9-7 win. Despite this, the Netherlands go into Wednesday’s final round-robin session still capable of qualifying for the play-offs, while Korea cannot progress.
HOW TO watch
All OQE games will be broadcast on the Curling Channel, however, there may be restrictions due to broadcast partner agreements.
The Curling Channel OQE Event Pass is available here.
Follow the live scores and results here.
Join the World Curling community!
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, TikTok, LinkedIn and Weibo and by searching the hashtag #curling
