Korea knocked out of team figure skating, bag win in curling

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan competes during the men's short program at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Italy at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. [NEWS1]

 
Korea did not get on the board at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday, the first day of the medal race across northern Italy following the opening ceremony.
 
In figure skating, Korea failed to progress to the final phase of free programs, as it finished the first round of short programs and rhythm dance in seventh place with 14 points. Only the top five teams of this 10-team competition will get to skate in the next round.
 

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Cha Jun-hwan finished eighth in the short program of the men's singles on Saturday with 83.53 points, delivering three ranking points to Korea. The ice dance team of Hannah Lim and Quan Ye scored four points while Shin Ji-a netted seven points in the women's singles on Friday.
 
Korea was at a disadvantage from the start because it did not have a team in the pairs and did not win a point in that discipline. Cha's wobbly performance that included a missed double axel sealed Korea's fate.
 
In the mixed doubles curling tournament, Kim Seon-yeong and Jeong Yeong-seok earned their first Olympic victory by beating the U.S. team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin by 6-5 in an extra end at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
 
Kim and Jeong lost to Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky of the Czech Republic by 9-4 earlier Saturday, as their losing streak reached five.
 
Against the United States, Korea blew a 5-2 lead in the eighth end, before Kim delivered the clinching point in the extra end.
 

Korea's Jeong Yeong-seok, right, and Kim Seon-yeong celebrate after winning the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against the United States at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy on Feb. 7. [AP/YONHAP]

Despite the Kim-Jeong duo's first win in this year's Olympics, their chances of reaching the final-four knockout stage are slim at the moment, as they are tied at the bottom of the 10-team round-robin table with the Czech Republic at one win and five losses apiece.
 
Britain already joined the final four with seven straight wins, with Italy trailing behind in No. 2, the United States in No. 3 and Sweden in No. 4 as of Sunday. Korea was due to face Estonia later on Sunday.
 
The very first gold medal of these Olympic Games, meanwhile, came from alpine skiing, where Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland captured the men's downhill title at Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio.
 
Italian speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida delivered the host country its first gold medal by winning the women's 3,000-meter title on her 35th birthday. Lollobrigida also did so with an Olympic record time of 3:54.28.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, YONHAP [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]