Kim and Jeong fell 8-4 to Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner on Feb. 5 at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in their second round-robin match.
Earlier that day, South Korea were routed 10-3 by Sweden’s Isabella and Rasmus Bran, leaving the Koreans 0-2 in the round robin.
Ten teams are competing in mixed doubles, with each nation playing a round-robin schedule. The top four advance to the semifinals and final to determine the medals.
South Korea are set to play Switzerland, Britain, the Czech Republic, the United States, Estonia, Canada and Norway next.
Kim and Jeong earned the last of the 10 Olympic berths through the Olympic Qualification Event (OQE). It is the second time South Korean curling have competed in Olympic mixed doubles, and the first since Pyeongchang 2018, when Jang Hye-ji and Lee Gi-jeong represented the country.
South Korea have opened against top opponents. The Bran siblings won the 2024 world championship, and Constantini and Mosaner are the 2022 Beijing Olympic gold medalists and last year’s world champions.
In South Korea’s first game, play was interrupted when a sudden power outage darkened the arena and shut off the scoreboard. The match stopped for about 10 minutes before resuming after power was restored.
With South Korea trailing 10-3 through six ends of an eight-end match, an official recommended ending the game, and Kim and Jeong offered handshakes that ended play. A comeback was still mathematically possible because a team can score up to six points in one end. Some have 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. Even with the recommendation, the outcome could have differed if Kim and Jeong had protested on the spot, but the match ended after the handshakes.
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.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.