Curling Mixed Doubles Suffers Third Straight Loss, Playoff Hopes in Jeopardy

South Korea's curling mixed doubles team of Kim Sun-young (Gangneung City Hall) and Jung Young-seok (Gangwon Provincial Office) saw their playoff hopes dim after suffering a third consecutive loss in the round-robin stage.

Kim and Jung lost 5-8 to Swiss husband-and-wife duo Briar Schwaller and Yannick Schwaller at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on Wednesday local time.

Following defeats to Sweden (3-10) on Tuesday and Italy (4-8) earlier Wednesday, the loss to Switzerland dropped South Korea to last place among 10 teams in the round-robin standings.

The Olympic curling mixed doubles competition features 10 nations—South Korea, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States—competing in a round-robin format, with the top four teams advancing to the knockout tournament.

South Korea held a 2-1 lead through the second end, raising hopes for their first victory of the tournament.

However, the Korean pair surrendered four points in the third end and lost momentum.

After trading single points with Switzerland and trailing by three, South Korea used their power play—a once-per-game option allowing the team with last-stone advantage to reposition pre-placed stones for a potential big score—in the sixth end to make a push.

But Kim Sun-young's final shot failed to stop inside the house, limiting Korea to just two points.

In the seventh end, Switzerland called their power play, but South Korea's defensive effort held the damage to two points.

Trailing 5-8, South Korea attempted a comeback in the eighth and final end but failed to score, sealing their third straight loss in the round-robin.

South Korea will face Great Britain in their fourth round-robin match on Thursday at 2:35 p.m. local time.