South Korea’s Mixed Doubles Curling Team Routed by Sweden in Milan-Cortina Opener

South Korea’s mixed doubles curling team members Kim Seon-young and Jeong Yeong-seok practice ahead of their Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics round-robin game against Sweden on Feb. 4 (local time) at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. [Photo=Yonhap]

South Korea’s first competition of the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics ended in a lopsided loss as the mixed doubles curling pair of Kim Seon-young (Gangneung City Hall) and Jeong Yeong-seok (Gangwon Provincial Office) fell 10-3 to Sweden’s Isabella and Rasmus Wranå on Wednesday (Korea time).

The round-robin opener was played at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Swedish siblings are the 2024 world champions, and South Korea could not close the gap against their precise shot-making.

The Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics officially begin with an opening ceremony at 4:30 a.m. on Friday at the San Siro Olympic Stadium in Milan. Curling mixed doubles started round-robin play ahead of the ceremony, making Kim and Jeong the first South Korean athletes to compete at the Games.

Ten teams are entered in mixed doubles, with each nation playing the others once in round-robin play. The top four advance to the semifinals and final to determine the medals.

South Korea earned the last of the 10 Olympic berths through the Olympic Qualification Event. It is the second time South Korea have competed in Olympic mixed doubles, and the first since Pyeongchang 2018 (Jang Hye-ji and Lee Gi-jeong).

Kim and Jeong are scheduled to play again at 6:05 p.m. at the same venue against host Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, the Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medalists.

Play was briefly interrupted during the first end when a sudden power outage darkened the arena and shut off the scoreboard. The match resumed after about 10 minutes once power was restored.

* This article has been translated by AI.

Kang Sang Heon ksh@ajunews.com