16 December 2025
Australia and China share Group B lead on day three
Day three at the Olympic Qualification Event mixed doubles competition saw Group B’s Australia and China and Group A’s Korea continue their unbeaten record, making them the only three teams to sit on four wins and no losses so far.
Austria had to forfeit their afternoon game against Türkiye due to continued illness within the team.
Group B
Group B had two games on Monday as the mixed doubles round-robin programme at the Olympic Qualification Event passed the halfway point.
After four rounds, Australia and China stand together at the top of the table, both undefeated.
Australia beat Spain 9-4 in their morning game before returning to face New Zealand in their evening session.
In the opening end against New Zealand, Australia had a chance to score four, but Tahli Gill’s final draw came up short, and she had to settle for three points and a 3-0 lead. By the eighth end, Australia led 7-4 and when Gill played a hit, she added one more point to secure the 8-4 win.
Later, Gill said, “Our confidence is building every game, and we’re just learning from every single game, every single shot — we’re just building, building, building.”
Meanwhile her partner Dean Hewitt said, “We’re just going to concentrate on the next one and just focus on what’s coming.”
This was a second loss of the day for New Zealand, as they had earlier lost to France 7-11.
In that game, France were already ahead 3-2 in the third end. In the fourth, France’s Stephanie Barbarin played a draw to score four points and take a 7-2 lead. France went on to win 11-7.
Afterwards, she said, “It feels pretty good to have a win. We had some nice shots in this game, so we have confidence and we’re happy.”
She added, “We’re enjoying this — it’s great to be here to compete with such fantastic teams, so we really appreciate this chance.”
France then went on to beat Spain 9-6 in their evening game.
China kept their unbeaten record with two more wins. They edged Netherlands by 7-5 in a tight morning game before defeating Denmark 7-4 in the evening.
Against the Dutch, China held a slim 6-5 lead in the eighth end when Netherlands’ Lisenka Bomas attempted a double take-out that would have given her team victory. However, the throw was unsuccessful, and China earned a steal of one from the end and a 7-5 win.
Netherlands bounced back from this with a six-end 8-2 win over Hungary in the evening session. This was a second loss of the day for the Hungarians, as they had lost 4-7 to Denmark earlier.
After this win, Denmark’s Henrik Holtermann said, “We’re playing pretty well right now, so we’re feeling good. But it’s a long week so we just taking it one game at a time.
“There’s always a chance in mixed doubles — it’s an explosive game.”
Group A
The Group A teams played once on Monday and Korea stretched their unbeaten record to four games.
Table-toppers Korea played Latvia in this session, and the teams swapped singles in the first half of the game to go into the break tied at 2-2.
In the seventh end, the score was still tied, at 4-4, until Korea’s Kim Seon-Yeong played a hit and stay to score three points and give her team a 7-4 lead. Korea then went on to win 7-5.
After this win, Jeong Yeongseok said, “We played great in the first half but Latvia made some great shots too to score their points.
“After that, we just wanted to play our own game, and it worked out.”
Japan faced Germany in this session. As the teams played the third end, Japan held a 2-1 lead. Japan’s Aoki Go then played a tap-up to score three and secure a 5-2 lead. Japan stayed in charge from this point and went on to win 7-3 in six ends, keeping themselves in contention for the play-offs.
After this game, Japan’s Koana Tori said, “We’re winning now because we’re reading the ice better and Go is sweeping well. We’re improving in every game now.”
Finland faced Czechia in this session. In the sixth end, Czechia’s Julie Zelingrova was able to draw her final stone into position for five points, taking her team’s 2-4 deficit to a 7-4 lead. Then in the eighth end, Zelingrova played a hit to bring the score to 8-5 and ensure the win.
Austria were absent for the third successive game due to illness, making their scheduled opponents Türkiye the latest team to receive an automatic win.
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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