24 January 2024
Semi-finals set at Gangwon 2024
Following five days of round-robin play, the semi-finals are confirmed at the Youth Olympic Games. China will face Denmark while Great Britain will compete against Switzerland.
China, who finished on top of Group A, earned a direct spot in the semi-final after handing United States their first loss of the competition, 6-5, in the final round-robin session. Great Britain, who topped Group B, advanced directly into the other semi-final.
In addition, United States and Japan emerged from Group A, while Denmark and Switzerland rounded out Group B.
Group A play-off picture
Japan defeated Norway in their final round-robin game to secure their qualification spot, 8-4. They would go on to play Denmark for a spot in the semi-finals.
Japanese skip, Fujii Kaito, said their success came down to focusing on their performance.
“We are so happy about our results, but we need to refocus for the quarter-final.”
Last stone wins in Group B
Group B was a closer affair, with five teams still in the hunt for the last two play-off spots ahead of the last round-robin session. When the final stones were thrown, Denmark, who stole the win against Canada, 4-2, earned second place in the group.
“We’re super happy! We achieved our goal to get to the play-offs and we’re super happy for a good game,” said second player Nikki Jensen.
When speaking about staying calm amongst the pressure, skip Jacob Schmidt added, “We’re good in the hack to say to each other ‘keep it cool, take some extra seconds, keep the pulse down.’”
In the last game on the ice, Switzerland made a hit for the win in an extra end against Italy, 8-7, to claim the final play-off position.
“It means everything [to get a play-off spot]. It’s a year we’ve been working now, all together, for that moment,” said Swiss skip Nathan Dryburgh.
“Now we made it. Things were not done after game four, things were not done after eight ends here, but we finally made it and it’s the best feeling in the world.”
Qualification games
Denmark led their game against Japan 7-1 after five ends. Denmark kept their foot on the gas, leading them to an eventual 8-3 victory.
“We’re very happy and we’re just so excited for tomorrow,” said vice-skip Katrine Schmidt.
The Danes were prepared for a close match, admitting they were expecting it to go the distance. “We were definitely setting ourselves up for an extra end or close eight ends [against Japan] and to really do the best curling we can,” said Schmidt.
“We’ve already reached beyond our goal and now we just want to go beyond that!”
The game between United States and Switzerland was back and forth, with the game being tied, 2-2, after four ends. With a Swiss score of two in the seventh end, United States were down one point, with the last stone playing the eighth end.
The Swiss produced strong defence, leaving American fourth player Zach Brenden with a hit for a single point to tie. The final stone floated wide and rolled out, resulting in a 4-3 win for Switzerland.
“We are relieved,” admitted Switzerland’s Dryburgh. “It was a tough game, we had to fight – they played really well and we had a bit of a slow start. But mental [toughness] and experience made it.”
“We are going to give everything until the end.”
China will now play Denmark in the semi-final tomorrow (25 January) at 9:00, while Great Britain will meet Switzerland. The winners of these games will go on to play for gold at 18:00 and the bronze game will take place at 14:30.
All times are KST (Korea Standard Time) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +9 hours.
Click here for results and standings.
Watch the Olympics live stream here.
Watch the replays here.
