They managed a clear momentum shift, but the late surge came too late and left regrets.
Kim Sun-young (Gangneung City Hall)-Jeong Young-seok (Gangwon Provincial Office) defeated Canada's Jocelyn Peterman-Brett Gallant 9-5 on the 9th (Korean time) at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in the eighth round-robin match of the curling mixed doubles at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics.
With that, Korea climbed out of an early five-game losing streak (Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Britain, Czech Republic) and swept through Canada after beating the United States and Estonia, finishing the preliminaries with a 3-5 record. They raised their focus fiercely at the brink, but regardless of the result against Norway, they missed out on a semifinal ticket contested by the top four teams. That was because four countries had already recorded five or more wins (Britain, the United States, Italy, Sweden).
Korea started the day shakily. After giving up two points in the third end, they seemed to cede control 1-3. But in the fourth end with the hammer, Kim Sun-young's final stone perfectly knocked the opponent's stone in the house out, producing a big three-point gain.
Korea, which succeeded in turning it around to lead 4-3, stole two points even when throwing first in the fifth end and pulled ahead 6-3. When Canada narrowed the gap with two points using a power play in the sixth end, Korea added two more in the seventh-end power play to secure the win. Finally, Korea added one point in the last eighth end and forced Canada to concede.
Having clinched the last spot among the 10 teams in the finals through the qualification playoff, Korea could not shake off its early slump in the main event. Right after the fifth-match loss to the Czech Republic, the two players even shed tears on the court.
But the first victory, won after an extra-end battle against the United States in the sixth match, became a turning point. Shedding the burden of five straight losses, Kim Sun-young and Jeong Young-seok regained their signature precise shot touch, crushed Estonia 9-3 and demonstrated the mettle to even beat Canada, one of the world's best.
Korea did not reach the goal of advancing to the semifinals. But on the Olympic stage they revealed their presence by producing a torrential run of three straight wins after five losses. Korea will now seek to finish on a high in the final round-robin game against Norway.
[OSEN]