15 February 2026
Republic of Korea keep semi-final hopes alive with third win at Olympic Winter Games
In a tight game in the women’s sixth round-robin session on Sunday afternoon, Republic of Korea beat Japan by 7-5 to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
After Japan blanked the first end, Republic of Korea had a single-point steal in the second end when Japan’s skip Yoshimura Sayaka was too heavy with her final draw. The Koreans then took another single point steal in the third — this time when a take-out attempt by Yoshimura was unsuccessful, giving Republic of Korea an early 2-0 lead.
Yoshimura was able to make amends in the fourth end, with a draw for two points to level the game at 2-2. In the fifth, Korean skip Gim Eunji played a take-out to stay on the button, score one point and take a 3-2 lead into the break.
Japan levelled at 3-3 in the sixth end, thanks to a draw onto the button by Yoshimura. Republic of Korea blanked the seventh and then scored three in the eighth when good play by their third Kim Minji set up to allow Gim to take out the counting Japan stone, for a 6-3 lead.
Japan responded with two points in the ninth to reduce the Korean lead to 6-5, but a raise take-out by Gim in the tenth was enough to give Republic of Korea a 7-5 victory.
This is their third win so far, and places them in joint fourth place on the table, alongside Denmark.
After this win, Gim said, “This win was obviously important. We were glad that we were able to get it, but also our performance was good as well, so that’s what we’re really happy with.”
Speaking about the game-turning score of three in the eighth end, she said, “Our third, Kim Minji, made that happen. She made the situation for me and I was able to finish it off. We’re just glad it was teamwork, a team shot that made those three points.”
Looking forward she said, “I think our third is fantastic right now, she just needs to keep playing how she’s playing right now. But I just need to up my game just a little bit, so that we can really excel in our upcoming games.”
Elsewhere in this session, United States of America came from behind to beat People’s Republic of China by 6-5.
People’s Republic of China took a 4-1 lead into the break, thanks to a score of two in the second end — when Chinese skip Wang Rui drew onto the button — and a steal of one in the fifth when American skip Tabitha Peterson missed out on a double take-out.
After this, a take-out by Peterson in the sixth gave the Americans two points to reduce the Chinese lead to 4-3.
As the teams played the eighth end, People’s Republic of China led by 5-3, but Peterson scored one point in the eighth with a take-out for 5-4, and then stole a single point in the ninth to level the game at 5-5.
In the tenth end, Peterson drew her final stone into a scoring position, just getting round guards on the way, and when Wang wrecked with her final take-out attempt, the Americans had another single-point steal and a 6-5 win.
Later, Peterson said, “My last shot was pretty sick, wasn’t it? It was a bummer we missed on the first one but we knew if we could get a draw in there that we were probably winning the game so that was huge that we made that.”
She added, “Every win here is huge. Every team is so good that when you can pull out a win, especially coming from behind, that’s big for just our record — to keep going — but also just for our momentum.”
This win puts United States of America in second place, on four wins and one loss, behind leaders Sweden, unbeaten with five wins.
Sweden played Great Britain in this session, and two scores of three — in the second and fourth ends — contributed to their 7-3 half-time lead. The Brits closed to 7-9 after nine ends, but Swedish skip Anna Hasselborg played a double take-out in the tenth, to score one more point, win by 10-7, preserving her team’s unbeaten record at the top of the table.
The fourth game of this session saw Denmark beat Italy by 7-2 in just eight ends. This result puts Denmark into joint fourth place, along with Republic of Korea, while Italy are still looking for their first win.
Follow the live scores from the women’s team curling at Milano Cortina 2026 here.
Find the full women’s team curling schedule and results here.
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