Kim Seon Yeong (Gangneung City Hall) and Jeong Yeong Seok (Gangwon Province Office) lost 10-3 to Sweden’s Isabella and Rasmus Wranå on Feb. 5 (Korea time) in their first round-robin game at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics are set to begin with an opening ceremony at 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 7 at the San Siro Olympic Stadium in Milan.
Mixed doubles began round-robin play ahead of the ceremony, making Kim and Jeong the first South Korean competitors to take the ice.
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’s round-robin opponents are Italy, Switzerland, Britain, the Czech Republic, the United States, Estonia, Canada and Norway, in addition to Sweden.
Kim and Jeong secured the final of the 10 Olympic mixed doubles berths through the Olympic Qualification Event. It is the second time South Korean curling has entered the Olympic mixed doubles field, following Pyeongchang 2018 (Jang Hye Ji and Lee Gi Jeong).
Sweden’s Wranå siblings are the 2024 world champions. South Korea could not close the gap against Sweden’s precise shotmaking and dropped its opener.
Kim and Jeong are scheduled to play host Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner at 6:05 p.m. at the same venue. The Italian pair won gold at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The game was briefly interrupted when the arena lost power during the first end, darkening the venue and shutting off the scoreboard. Play resumed after about 10 minutes once electricity was restored.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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