Women's curling falls short of three straight wins...5-7 loss to world No. 1 Switzerland

The Korean women's curling team failed to extend their winning streak to three after losing to world No. 1 Switzerland.

The women's national curling team, consisting of skip Kim Eunji, third Kim Minji, second Seol Yeji, and lead Seol Yeeun, lost 5-7 to Switzerland at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina, Italy, on the 17th (Korea time). Before this game, both teams were tied for second place with 4 wins and 2 losses. With this win, Switzerland secured a favorable position in the race to advance to the final round, while Korea is now forced to continue its battle for ranking in the remaining two games.

The South Korean women's curling team is greeting spectators after finishing their match against Switzerland in the women's team preliminary round at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics on the 17th (KST) at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina, Italy. Photo by Yonhap News

Korea scored first with 1 point in the 1st end, but immediately allowed a comeback in the 2nd end. In the 2nd end, with Switzerland lying first and second stones, Korea had its final throw. They attempted a double takeout but managed to remove only one stone, and Switzerland then removed the Korean stone with its last throw to score 3 points.

The 3rd end started with Korea having the hammer, which was advantageous, but the game did not unfold as planned. Before the final Korean throw, there was only one Swiss stone in the house. Korea aimed to hit out the Swiss stone and at the same time roll its own stone out of the house to create a blank end in which neither team would score. Since only 1 point was available, the strategy was to blank the 3rd end and then go for a big score with the hammer again in the 4th end. However, the Korean stone did not completely roll out and instead barely rested on the back edge of the house line, resulting in an unintended single point and ending the 3rd end.

In the 4th end, Korea successfully stole 1 point to tie the game at 3-3. In the 5th end, Kim Minji executed a brilliant double takeout, and as Switzerland continued to struggle, it opted to blank the end to carry the hammer into the 6th end.

In the 6th end, where Korea did not have the hammer, they limited Switzerland to just 1 point and then looked to counterattack in the 7th end with the hammer. However, they instead gave up a steal of 1 point, losing the momentum once again.

Trailing 3-5 and regaining the hammer in the 8th end, Korea aimed for at least 2 points but managed to score only 1. In the 9th end, where Switzerland had the hammer, Korea conceded 2 points, and the score gap widened to 4-7.

In the final 10th end, skip Kim Eunji produced a spectacular last shot. With Switzerland holding the first to third shot stones, she succeeded in a triple takeout, turning the situation around so that Korea now held the first to third stones. However, Switzerland immediately responded with a double takeout, and the game effectively ended there. Korea managed to get back only 1 point in the 10th end.

With a record of 4 wins and 3 losses, Korea will complete its preliminary round by facing Sweden on the 18th and Canada on the 19th. Only the top four teams will advance to the semifinals.