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Women's curling team takes aim at history

Published: 04 Feb. 2026, 14:39 Updated: 04 Feb. 2026, 15:51

Members of the Korean women's curling team competing at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics pose for photos at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong, on Jan 27. From left: Seol Ye-eun, Gim Eun-ji, Kim Su-ji, Kim Min-ji and Seol Ye-ji. [YONHAP]

The sport of curling burst into the national consciousness in 2018, when the women's team led by Kim Eun-jung claimed the silver medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Korea's first medal in the sport. The bespectacled skip became a minor celebrity, as her screams to get her teammates to sweep harder went viral, and her teammates also won over people's hearts with their down-to-earth demeanor.

At this year's Milan Cortina Games, a new women's team representing Korea will try to top the 2018 squad's achievement and bring home the historic gold medal.

Gim Eun-ji, who made her Olympic debut in 2014 as the youngest member of the team, is back as the skip for a quartet of first-time Olympians: Kim Min-ji, Kim Su-ji, Seol Ye-ji and Seol Ye-eun. At No. 3 in World Curling's team rankings behind Rachel Homan's Canada and Silvana Tirinzoni's Switzerland, Gim and Co. have enjoyed some international success over the past couple of years, a run highlighted by the bronze medal at the 2024 world championships in Sydney behind Canada and Switzerland.

And it is those two countries that the Korean curlers have already identified as their biggest hurdles at the Olympics.

There will be 10 teams in the women's tournament, and the top four teams after nine round-robin matches will advance to the semifinals. Kim Su-ji predicted in January that it would take at least six wins for Korea to make it to the knockout phase.

Korea will open its competition against Japan on Feb. 12, with the home team Italy coming up later the same day. Korea will face Switzerland on Feb. 17 and Canada on Feb. 19.

Korean curlers Kim Seon-yeong, left, and Jeong Yeong-seok train at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong, in preparation for the mixed doubles event at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, on Jan. 7. [NEWS1]

All matches will be played at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Korea didn't qualify for the men's competition but will have a team in the mixed doubles, with Kim Seon-yeong and Jeong Yeong-seok in action.

Kim competed on Kim Eun-jung's teams in both 2018 and 2022, and she will now become the first Korean curler to appear at three consecutive Winter Olympics. Jeong will be in his first Olympics.

The duo grabbed their Olympic ticket at the last-chance qualifying event in Canada in December.

They will open their Olympics later Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony, with a round-robin match against Sweden. It is the very first official event for the entire Korean delegation at this year's Olympics.

The mixed team competition takes the same format as the women's, with 10 countries playing each other in the round robin to vie for the four spots in the next phase.

Yonhap