14 December 2025
Mixed doubles competition gets underway at Olympic Qualification Event
Mixed doubles action has now begun at the Olympic Qualification Event in Kelowna, Canada. This competition is the last chance for teams to qualify their National Olympic Committee (NOC) for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
The top two teams in this competition will join the eight mixed doubles teams that have already qualified.
Group A
Group A was first on the ice and in their opener, Czechia beat Austria 15-2.
In the fourth end, Austria’s Verena Pfluegler caught a guard with her last stone, leaving Czechia’s Julie Zelingrova with a straightforward draw to score six points and take a 10-1 lead.
After this win, Czechia’s Vit Chabicovsky said, “It’s great to start with a win. If we want to qualify for the Olympics, we can’t afford to lose too many. Hopefully we’ll play well in the next game too.”
Elsewhere in this session, Korea beat Japan by 7-4 when Kim Seon-Yeong scored a single point with her final draw in the eighth end.
Later, Korea’s Jeong Yeongseok said, “We had to be patient there,” while Kim Seon-Yeong added, “We know winning the first game is always important, and we didn’t think about our opponents, we just thought about what we were doing.”
Germany faced Latvia and, in the eighth end, the Germans were leading by 5-4 when Pia-Lisa Schoell hit out a Latvian stone to score one more and secure the 6-4 win.
Finland’s game against Türkiye went to an extra end, with the score tied at 6-6. In that end Türkiye’s Berfin Sengul hit out a Finnish stone to score one and win 7-6.
Group B
In the opening Group B session, Spain faced New Zealand.
By the seventh end, Spain held a narrow 4-3 lead, but Oihane Otaegi could not get her final draw inside three New Zealand stones, and instead it went all the way through. This meant Spain gave up a steal of three and New Zealand took a 6-4 lead. New Zealand went on to win by 6-5 when Spain were only able to score one in the last end.
Denmark faced the Netherlands in this session. By the fourth end, the Dutch led by 3-1 when Lisenka Bomas had a chance to draw for two points. However, her final stone was wide and light, and she had to settle for just one point, to increase Netherlands’ lead to 4-1. After this, the Dutch went on to win 6-4.
Afterwards, Netherlands’ Wouter Goesgens said, “We paid attention to draw-weight in practice and that helped us. It’s good to start with a ‘W’. Of course, it’s important to win if you want to get to the play-offs. It’s a strong field, but we’re just concentrating on how we can improve.”
France played Australia and by the third end, the French held a 2-0 lead. In the third, Australia’s Tahli Gill attempted a tap-up, looking for three points, but she was short and had to settle for just two points to level the game at 2-2. After this, Australia built a 4-2 lead by the fifth end, but France fought back and, after a single steal in the seventh end, tied the game at 4-4. Australia then scored the one point needed in the eighth end to win by 5-4.
In the fourth game of the session, Hungary faced China. By the sixth end, China held a 5-3 lead. Ye Zixuan then played a draw to score four more points and improve her team’s lead to 9-3. As a result, Hungary conceded.
After this opening win, China’s Yu Sen said, “We were so nervous — that was the first time we’ve played in a world game. We’re still nervous, so we’re just going to play each game one by one out there.”
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.
Join the World Curling community!
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, LinkedIn and Weibo and by searching the hashtag #curling
Sign up for the World Curling Newsletter and receive monthly updates directly to your inbox.
