Japan, Norway, Türkiye, Australia women win opening games at Olympic Qualification Event

The Olympic Qualification Event has begun in Kelowna, Canada. This competition is the last opportunity for nations to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games 2026 in Milano Cortina, Italy.

The top two women’s and two men’s teams from this event will join the eight other nations that have already secured Olympic berths.

Opening women’s round-robin: a tight night on the ice

Friday evening’s opening women’s round-robin session was tightly contested, with all four games decided on the final stone.

Team Norway at the Olympic Qualifying Event 2025 © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

In the first match Norway played Germany in a battle featuring three blanked ends. By the tenth, Norway led 4–3 and had the hammer. With her final shot, Norway’s fourth, Kristin Skaslien, executed a take-out to score two, sealing a 6–3 victory for her team.

In another match Japan faced United States. After taking an early lead with two points in the first end, Japan went into the mid-game break leading 4–3.

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Yoshimura then drew for two in the ninth to extend the lead to 7–4. United States could not recover in the tenth end — a missed in-off attempt gave Japan a steal and an 8–4 win.

Yoshimura reflected saying they had “made a really fabulous shot in the first end. We were happy with our play overall, but we’re trying to fix some little issues.”

The third game pitted Türkiye against Estonia. Türkiye had built a 3–1 lead after scoring three in the third end, but Estonia fought back. In the seventh end, skip Dilsat Yildiz played a hit to score two and push Türkiye ahead 7–5.

Then, with the game tied 7–7 in the tenth end, Yildiz navigated her final stone to a burried shot to score the winning point, giving Türkiye an 8–7 win. “The first win is very important,” said Yildiz. “It was very hard to play that last stone, but it was very important and a good start. Now, our target is the play-offs.”

In the final game of the session, Australia faced Czechia. The Czechs led 3–2 going into the fifth-end break, but Australia moved ahead to lead 4–3 by the seventh end. Czech skip Hana Synackova drew two for a 5–4 lead in the seventh.

Australia then scored in each of the final three ends to win 8–5. Afterward Australian skip Helen Williams said “that was a nice way to start, and I think we found a way to win. We were a little tentative at times — that’s how it is settling into a big event like this. We managed to make the shots that counted and put pressure on our opponents.”