Great Britain’s Joanna Butterfield celebrates their win against Latvia © World Curling / Will Palmer

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World Curling Media

5 March 2026

Great Britain pick up first win at Paralympic Winter Games

Thursday saw two wheelchair mixed doubles curling draws in the Cortina Olympic Stadium, with Great Britain picking up their first win, while People’s Republic of China remained undefeated.

Great Britain had a difficult start to their Paralympic campaign, losing their first two games to Estonia and Republic of Korea. In the third session, however, they played a strong game against Latvia and won, 6-5.

Afterwards, Britain’s Jason Kean said, “It feels really good to get that monkey off our back if you wanna say it that way. Communication was as good as it’s ever been. Tonight was a better performance, we played the first half really well, and then it was about managing the scoreboard in the second half, making sure we didn’t get too ahead of ourselves. It was a brilliant performance.”

2023 world champions, Latvia are still looking for their first win, as they had lost earlier on Thursday to Team China (10-2).

It was a perfect day for Republic of Korea. After their confident morning win against Great Britain (14-3), they kept their momentum for the evening, and beat reigning world champions Japan, 9-0.

After their morning win, a delighted Baek Hyejin said, “After our loss yesterday, I was disappointed, but today I’m very happy and ready for the next games.”

Regarding their overall expectations, her teammate, Lee Yongsuk added, “Our goal is to advance to the play-offs.”

Fans cheering for Team Korea © World Curling / Ansis Ventins

Team China is the only undefeated team in the field. After their morning win against Latvia, they picked up another victory in the evening against Italy. That game went all the way to an extra end, where Italy had hammer. However, Orietta Berto’s last draw attempt wrecked on a guard, and Team China stole the victory, 8-7.

Team China celebrate their extra-end win against Italy © World Curling / Ansis Ventins

Estonia had a half-and-half day. In the morning, they won against Italy, 6-4, however, in the evening, United States of America beat them, 8-4.

After their morning win, Estonia’s Katlin Riidebach said, “I’m happy, but we have games ahead, we need to get ready for the next games. Analyse a little bit and go forward.”

She also shared her thoughts about the Paralympic atmosphere and the mixed doubles’ debut in the programme, saying, “It’s awesome! The people, all the volunteers, the energy. It’s like a family. I think it’s the greatest idea because in Winter Paralympics they have so few sports disciplines, so it gives more opportunity and the small countries that don’t have so many athletes in wheelchair curling to make it on the team, we also have the opportunity. Because in Estonia, only two people play, so me and Ain [Villau] and here we are!”

Estonia’s Katlin Riidebach © World Curling / Will Palmer

With their evening win, Team United States bounced back from their morning loss to Japan (5-7).

After their evening success, United States of America’s Stephen Emt said, “It feels good. We weren’t ourselves the first two games. We talked after the second game, and nothing to take away from Japan and Latvia, two great teams, but we weren’t ourselves. We talked and said, ‘let’s get back to what got us here. We implemented some things and we got back tonight and the result is on the scoreboard and we’re very happy with it.”