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Team Korea splits matches in women's curling at Winter Olympics

Published: 13 Feb. 2026, 09:20

Kim Min-ji of Korea, center, throws the stone while flanked by teammates Seol Ye-eun, left, and Kim Su-ji during the team's round-robin match against the United States in the women's curling tournament at the Winter Olympics at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on Feb. 12. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea split its first two matches of the women's curling tournament at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.

Led by skip Gim Eun-ji, Korea frittered away a 2-0 lead and fell 8-4 to Tabitha Peterson's American team in its first match at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Korea then beat Italy 7-2 in its second match on Thursday.

There are 10 teams in the tournament, and the four best countries after nine round-robin matches each will advance to the semifinals.

Korea won silver in 2018 with a different team, skipped by Kim Eun-jung, flying the flag. Gim's team for this year arrived in Italy as world No. 3, behind Rachel Homan's Canada and Silvana Tirinzoni's Switzerland.

Korea led through three ends, taking advantage of Gim's successful takeout in the second end and Peterson's unsuccessful takeout in the third end.

However, the United States tied the score with two points in the fourth end as Peterson executed a decisive takeout and claimed a 3-2 lead with a point in the sixth end. The United States then jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the seventh end when Gim's draw with her last stone fell well short of the intended target with two American stones already sitting close to the button.

Gim made up for her miscue in the eighth end by giving Korea two points with a raise, but the United States responded with a point in the ninth end, giving the United States a 6-4 lead.

The United States closed out the win with two more points in the final end, after Gim failed to execute a double takeout while trying to tie the score.

Against Italy, Korea scored its first point in the second end, and added a point in each of the next two ends to build a 3-0 lead.

After Italy got a point back in the fifth end, Korea blew the match wide open with four points in the sixth end thanks to Gim's well-placed draw.

Italy conceded defeat after managing just one more point in the seventh end.

Yonhap