17 December 2025
Korea first to make qualification play-offs
With Austria confirming they will be unable to compete any further due to illness, they have forfeited their remaining games at the Olympic Qualification Event. However, the other Group A teams battled on, with two games on Tuesday.
Group A
Unbeaten Korea have confirmed their play-off qualification and played strongly against Türkiye in the morning session, winning 8-2 in just six ends.
After this game, Korea’s Kim Seon-Yeong said, “We’re playing every game as if it’s the first game. We’re trying to read the ice as early as possible. Through that, our focus is leading to better communication, and that’s all helpful.”
Their evening game against Finland was a closer affair. It came down to the last stone of the eighth end, when Kim Seon-Yeong drew for two points and the 6-5 win to keep their unbeaten record intact.
Behind Korea, Czechia had two wins, to sit in second place.
They beat Latvia in their morning game, starting with a score of three in the first end, before going on to win 8-4.
In the evening, they faced Germany and found themselves 0-3 down after the first two ends, before Julie Zelingrova levelled the game with a draw to score three in the third end. They then went on to win 8-4.
After their win over Latvia, Czech Vit Chabicovsky said “That game was better than yesterday. We also liked this sheet, so we were really comfortable.”
More generally he added, “So far, so good, but I think if we are to qualify, we will have to win both. If we do that’ll be good. If we were out already, it wouldn’t be as good as it is, but where we are is really nice.”
Czechia are in pole position to qualify along with Korea, but Japan (in third place) still have play-off hopes.
They beat Finland 7-3 before defeating Türkiye 11-2 in their evening game.
By the third end of their game against Türkiye, Japan led by 6-0 when Türkiye’s Berfin Sengul had a chance to draw which came up short, giving up a further steal of three for a 9-0 Japan lead. Türkiye then conceded in the sixth end, with Japan winning 11-2.
Japan must now play the waiting game as they were due to play Austria in Wednesday’s last session.
Latvia were awarded a win over Austria in the evening, and they share fourth place in the rankings with Türkiye.
Group B
Group B only had one game on Tuesday, and when they came onto the ice for their fifth round-robin session, Australia and China were joint leaders, unbeaten so far.
But that changed, with China beating New Zealand 6-5 and Australia losing to Netherlands 6-7. Netherlands now share second place with the Australians behind China, who sit alone on top, unbeaten.
In the fifth end of their game against New Zealand, with the score tied at 3-3, China’s Ye Zixuan played a hit, but a New Zealand stone rolled into position to steal one point (after an umpire’s measure) and take a 4-3 lead. Despite this, China went on to win 6-5 when New Zealand’s Courtney Smith played a hit in the eighth end that rolled just too far.
After this, China’s Yu Sen said, “New Zealand played very well, and put a lot of pressure on us. That meant that we just had to play our best.”
In the eighth end of their game against Netherlands, the Australians held a 6-4 lead. Then, with her last stone, Netherlands’ Lisenka Bomas played a long runback take-out. It hit the target and, thanks to one of their stones just hanging on at the back of the house, Netherlands scored three from the end to win 7-6.
After this outstanding effort, Bomas said, “I was quite confident about the shot. We were a bit short on time so I was a bit nervous, but it looked good out of the hand.”
Speaking about the game more generally, her partner Wouter Goesgens added, “That game was do or die, but we’ve kept everything in our hands now. Tomorrow is a new day and we’ll be back.”
In the other games of this session, Hungary beat Spain 7-6, thanks to a score of two in the eighth end when Hungary’s Joo Linda hit and rolled her own stone into scoring position.
Denmark were 7-5 winners over France in the fourth game of the session. In the seventh end of this game, with Denmark leading 5-3, France had a chance to score three and take the lead. But Stephanie Barbarin could only score two points with her hit when her own stone ran out, to level the score at 5-5. After this, Denmark went on to win 7-5 when Jasmin Holtermann scored two points with her final hit.
All Olympic Qualification Event games will be broadcast on the Curling Channel, however, there may be restrictions due to broadcast partner agreements.
Find the schedule and follow results here.
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