Team Japan celebrate win against Australia at the Olympic Qualifying Event 2025 © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

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World Curling Media

8 December 2025

Japan women, China men remain only undefeated sides at Olympic Qualification Event

With two more wins on Sunday, Japan continued unbeaten at the top of the women’s rankings after four round-robin sessions.

In their evening game, they beat Czechia by 10-3, but before that they were 7-5 winners over Australia.

Their win over Czechia saw them score three in both the fourth and eighth ends. In the fourth end, Japan skip Yoshimura Sayaka played a take-out for her three, and then followed that up in the eighth with another double take-out for three to seal their win.

Before losing to Japan, Czechia had recorded their first win, beating United States by 9-7.

Team Czechia © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

In the sixth end of this game, with the score tied at 4-4, Czechia’s skip Hana Synackova played a tap-back to score three and take a 7-4 lead.

Czechia then went on to win by 9-7, and afterwards, their third player Linda Nemcokova said, “that was important for us. We were better at draw-weight and take-outs there, so we’ve improved out game from yesterday.”

Behind Japan, Norway sit on three wins and one loss, thanks to two extra end wins on Sunday. They beat Türkiye by 6-4 in their evening game, but earlier, they faced Estonia.

Team Norway © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

Against Estonia, with the score tied at 8-8, Norway’s fourth player Kristin Skaslien drew her final stone of the extra end for the win, 9-8.

After this win, Norway skip Marianne Roervik said, “we had a really good start there. We played the board at the end – but she played an incredible double to force the extra end.”

Skaslien was then called upon against Türkiye, when she cleared out a Turkish stone to seal the 6-4 extra end win.

Germany had two wins on Sunday, beating Türkiye by 8-4 and then carving out a 10-3 win over Estonia. Against Türkiye, the Germans held a 5-4 lead as the teams played the ninth end. Their fourth player Kim Sutor then played a draw to score three and improve Germany’s lead to 8-4. This became the final score when Türkiye conceded.

Team Germany © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

German skip Sara Messenzehl said, “that was a very important game. If we’d lost it, we would have been out. We had two tough games before, so it was important to get that win now. We just want to keep building up now.”

United States recovered from their loss to Czechia by beating Australia 10-4. The Americans took a 6-1 lead into the fifth-end break, before finishing the game with a score of three in the ninth – thanks to a last stone draw by skip Tabitha Peterson.

Men’s action

After three round robin sessions, China sit at the top of the men’s rankings, unbeaten so far.

Their game on Sunday was a top-of the-table clash with Philippines. By the seventh end, China held a 3-2 lead when their skip Xu Xiaoming played a hit to score one and improve his team’s lead to 4-2. A wide tap by Philippines in the eighth led to a steal of one and a 5-2 final score.

Later, Xiaoming said, “we’re getting used to the ice and playing better and better. Philippines are a good team, so we had to stay calm and focus on our own game.”

Team China © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Behind China, three teams are tied on two-wins, one-loss record: Japan, Philippines and United States.

Japan faced Poland and held an 8-7 lead as the teams played the tenth end. Poland skip Konrad Stych then attempted a double take-out but flashed everything, to give Japan a steal of two points and a 10-7 win.

In a tight game, United States played Korea, and they were tied at 4-4 as they played the ninth. American skip Daniel Casper picked out a Korea stone for three points and a 7-4 lead. The Americans then went on to win by 7-5.

Team United States versus Korea © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Afterwards, Casper said, “We always knew we would be right in this competition. Even though we lost against China yesterday, we’re building.”

“For better or worse, we’ve always been a team that starts slow and builds through the week. Even though we’ve not been playing how we would like, we’re still building and we just need to be there at the end, which we’re confident we will do.”

The fourth game of this session saw New Zealand played Netherlands.

In the tenth end, Netherlands held a 6-4 lead when, with the last stone, Dutch skip Wouter Goesgens had a nose-hit to score one more point and win by 7-4.

Later, he said, “we’re getting there now – today we made a couple more key shots. Of course, we need more wins to be in the play-offs at the end of the week, that’s our goal.”