South Korea Women's Curling Edges Japan 7-5 in Olympic Thriller

South Korea's women's curling team defeated Japan in their fifth match at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, keeping their semifinal hopes alive.

The team, comprising skip Kim Eun-ji, third Kim Min-ji, second Kim Su-ji, lead Seol Ye-eun, and fifth Seol Ye-ji representing Gyeonggi Provincial Office, won 7-5 against Japan at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on February 15 local time.

World-ranked third, South Korea now holds a 3-2 record in the round-robin stage. After losing 4-8 to the United States in their opener, the team defeated Italy and Great Britain before falling 3-6 to Denmark in their fourth match. The victory over Japan prevented consecutive losses.

In the women's curling competition, 10 teams compete in a round-robin format, with the top four advancing to the semifinal knockout stage for medals.

South Korea had defeated the current Japanese team, led by skip Yoshimura Sayaka, in extra ends at the World Championship qualifiers in Uijeongbu last March. The Korean team seized control early in this match as well.

Japanese throwing errors in the second and third ends allowed South Korea to steal one point each, building a 2-0 lead.

Japan tied the match 2-2 in the fourth end. Both teams traded single points in the fifth and sixth ends before the seventh and eighth ends proved decisive.

South Korea executed a blank end in the seventh, a strategic move where the team with last-stone advantage intentionally scores zero to retain hammer in the following end for a potential multi-point score.

In the crucial eighth end, Kim Min-ji delivered two successful double takeouts, enabling South Korea to score three points and extend their lead to 6-3.

Japan narrowed the gap to 6-5 with two points in the ninth end, but skip Kim Eun-ji's final throw in the tenth end secured an additional point for a clean 7-5 victory.

South Korea's women's curling team faces China in their sixth match at 3:05 a.m. Korean time on February 17.