Gangwon, Korea – In total, 106 young curlers will represent their National Olympic Committee at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea from Friday 19 January until Thursday 1 February 2024.
All curling action will take place in the Gangneung Curling Centre, the venue from the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Since the Games, the facility has continued its legacy by hosting several international competitions, including the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2018 and the World Mixed Doubles Championship 2023. This will be the fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games, and the first one taking place outside of Europe.
The Games will begin with the four-player mixed team competition, running from 20 – 25 January. The second half of the event will feature the mixed doubles, which will be from 26 January – 1 February.
At previous Youth Olympics, the mixed doubles teams were created at the end of the mixed competition by combining players from different nations, based on their teams’ ranking in the mixed team event.
This year, for the first time, the mixed doubles team members represent the same National Olympic Committee, just as in the mixed team event, allowing each National Olympic Committee to send two additional athletes.
Mixed team competition
Games will begin at 10.00 on Saturday 20 January. The 16 participating teams will play a round robin in two groups that runs until the afternoon of Wednesday 24 January.
On the same day at 19.00, qualification games will take place. The semi-finals will be held at 9.00 on Thursday 25 January. They are followed by the bronze medal game and the gold medal final on the same day, at 14.30 and 18.00, respectively.
Group A teams: China, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Türkiye, United States
Group B teams: Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Korea, Switzerland
Mixed doubles competition
The competition will feature 24 teams divided into four groups. The round-robin stage will start at 18.00 on Friday 26 January and conclude in the afternoon of Wednesday 31 January. On the same day the quarter-finals will take place at 19.00.
The semi-finals are scheduled for 9.00 on Thursday 1 February. The bronze medal game will be held at 13.00 on the same day, followed by the final at 16.00.
Group A teams: Canada, Czechia, Great Britain, Hungary, Korea, Nigeria
Group B teams: Norway, Qatar, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, United States
Group C teams: Brazil, China, Japan, Latvia, New Zealand, Türkiye
Group D teams: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Switzerland
All times are KST (Korea Standard Time) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +9 hours.
Click here for the full schedule of the Games.
Get to know some Youth Olympic curlers
Great Britain’s mixed team members, Logan Carson and Archie Hyslop won world junior bronze medals in 2023, representing Scotland.
The female player of the Czech mixed doubles team, Julie Zelingrova has represented Czechia twice at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, in 2022 and 2023.
The female player of the German mixed doubles team, Joy Sutor participated in the World Mixed Curling Championship 2022 with two of her siblings, finishing fifth.
She also took silver medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival 2023 along with Angrick Leonhard, who will be her mixed doubles teammate in Gangwon. A third member of that silver medallist team, Lukas Jaeger will now play in the German mixed team.
Latvia’s mixed doubles team, Agate Regza and Kristaps Zass took bronze medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival 2023 in the mixed team event.
The youngest player is 14-year-old Norway’s Melina Nathalie Troean, who will play lead in the team event.
The oldest player of the competition is Italy skip Andrea Gilli, who turned 18 earlier in January 2024.
