New Champions in Korea

Fresh faces have claimed the 2022 Korean curling championship titles.

On the women’s side, co-favorites Kim Eun-jung and Gim Eun-ji were both upended by Ha Seung-youn. Ha defeated Kim 7-5 in the semifinal and went on to beat Gim 7-4 in the final, breaking a 4-4 tie with a big three-count in the last end of play.

Ha skips the remnants of Kim Min-ji’s foursome, who stepped into the breach left by Team Kim’s post-2018 Olympic troubles that season—a season where Kim Min-ji won the Pacific championship title and also scored a surprise bronze medal at the world championships.

Kim Min-ji left her team earlier this season to jump to Gim’s squad, where she plays third. That foursome made a strong run to the final of the last Grand Slam of the season, losing to Canada’s Kerri Einarson in the final of the Champions Cup.

Kim Eun-jung, the 2018 Olympic finalist went on to lose the bronze medal game, 8-7 to Shin Ga-Yeong. Shin held an 8-3 lead after seven ends whereupon Kim scored four points over the last three ends, but it wasn’t enough.

Ha and teammates Kim Hue-rin, Yang tae-I and Kim Sun-ji will go on to represent Korea at this fall’s Pan-Continental Curling Championships, aka the rebranded Pacific Championships.

In men’s play, the defending champions skipped by Kim Chang-min were also upset, this time by Seoul’s Jeong Byeong-jin. Kim had advanced to the final by defeating Kim Jeong-min 7-4 in one semifinal, while Jeong defeated Jeong Yeong-suk 7-3 in the other.

The Jeong Yeong-suk foursome went on to defeat Kim Jeong-min 9-3 in the bronze medal game.

Like the women’s champions, Jeong’s men’s squad—with Lee Jeong-jae, Mik Min-woo and Kim Tae-hwan will represent Korea at the new Pan Continental Championships at the end of October (location to be confirmed).