Five things to know about the results from the Pre-Olympic Curling Qualifying Tournament in Turkey
Men’s, women’s and mixed curling teams battled it out in Turkey this past 10 days for the chance to make it to the final Beijing 2022 qualification event in December.
Curling
The penultimate stopover on the way to Beijing 2022 took place in Erzurum, Turkey from 5–15 October. The Pre-Olympic Qualification Event featured 16 mixed doubles teams, ten women’s teams and 17 men’s teams, competing for the last remaining places in December’s Olympic Qualification Tournament 2021 (OQT), in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.
It is from the December tournament that the final three men’s teams, three women’s teams, and two mixed teams will join those already qualified for Beijing 2022, which begins 4 February.
Here’s five things to know about the Turkey event, including who qualified and who just missed out.
Mixed doubles
Denmark, Latvia and home side Turkey qualified from the mixed doubles event, which took place from 5–8 October. After making it through to the finals Denmark beat Belarus 7-5, Latvia defeated Kazakhstan 9-6 and Turkey overcame Portugal in a tight match, 8-7.
These winners will complete the field of the 14 mixed doubles teams at the Olympic Qualification Event 2021 in December in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.
Women's
On the final day, Turkey cemented their place in December's final qualification event by comprehensively beating Slovakia with two ends to go. The home side got off to a flying start with a 5-0 first end, and went on to win the match 12-3. Latvia join them at the last-chance qualifying event in December.
Men's
In the men's event the Czech Republic beat Spain 7-6, snatching the win by a single point in the tenth end to dash Spain's hopes. At the same time, Finland beat Turkey in another thriller, with an extra-end game taking the score to 10-9.
The experienced Finnish pair of Kalle Kiiskinen and Teemu Salo no doubt used their previous Olympic experience as they were part of the team that won silver at the Torino Winter Olympic Games back in 2006.
Czech Republic and Finland, therefore, have earned a place in the Olympic Qualification Event 2021 in the men’s competition.
Who missed out
Nigeria’s mixed and men’s teams, who manage to train despite not having access to ice, gained more experience on the world stage but didn't manage to make it through to the latter stages.
Who has already qualified for the tournament in the Netherlands?
The men's teams who have already qualified for December's last chance saloon tournament, via their finishing positions at the 2021 World Championships, are: Italy, Norway, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands and Republic of Korea.
The qualified women's teams are Republic of Korea, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Czech Republic, Italy, Estonia and Netherlands.
The mixed event will feature the United States, Germany, ROC, New Zealand, Australia, Hungary, Japan, Finland, Republic of Korea, Estonia, Spain and Netherlands.