Kim and Jeong lost 8-4 to Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner of Italy on Feb. 5 at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in their second round-robin match.
Earlier in the day, South Korea were routed 10-3 by Sweden's Isabella and Rasmus Bran, leaving them 0-2 in round-robin play.
Ten teams are competing in mixed doubles, which features one man and one woman per team. After a round-robin in which each team plays every other team once, the top four advance to the semifinals and final to determine the medals.
After Sweden and Italy, South Korea are set to play Switzerland, Britain, the Czech Republic, the United States, Estonia, Canada and Norway, in that order.
Kim and Jeong earned the final of the 10 mixed doubles berths through the Olympic Qualification Event. It is the second time South Korean curling have competed in Olympic mixed doubles, and the first since the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, when Jang Hye Ji and Lee Gi Jeong represented the country.
South Korea have opened against two top teams. The Bran siblings won the 2024 world championship, and Constantini and Mosaner are the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics gold medalists and last year's world champions.
South Korea's opener against Sweden also included an unusual interruption. During the first end, a sudden power outage darkened the venue and shut off the scoreboard, and play was halted for about 10 minutes before electricity was restored.
With South Korea trailing 10-3 through six of eight ends, an official recommended ending the game after the sixth end, and Kim and Jeong offered handshakes, ending the match. The article noted a comeback was still mathematically possible because a team can score up to six points in a single end, and suggested the official may have mistakenly believed only one end remained.
Under the rules, an early finish is finalized not by an official's declaration but when a player offers a handshake to concede. The article said the outcome could have changed if Kim and Jeong had objected on the spot, but the game ended once the teams shook hands.
Kim and Jeong are scheduled to play Switzerland at 3:05 a.m. on Feb. 6 in their third round-robin game.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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