Korean curling is gaining momentum

November 2, 2024

With Korea hosting the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship next year, Korean women’s participation in the event was already guaranteed, so when Lee Jaebum’s men’s team defeated Australia 9-7 in the final men’s round-robin session to take the last available spot . At the BKT Tires Men’s World Championship the following year, Korea successfully completed the Pancontinental Curling Championship.

The team of Lee Jaebum’s former classmates, who came from the southern part of Korea, have an average age of about twenty years. This team emerged from approximately 50 junior teams and now represents the new generation of Korean curlers. They will now represent Korea at the World Championships in Moose Jaw in April, attempting to build on the strong foundation laid by other teams in the past. Korea has made a total of ten appearances at the men’s world championships since 2003, with their best result to date being fourth place in Las Vegas in 2018 under Kim Changmin. Lee Jaebum’s team is determined to build on that legacy when they compete in Moose Jaw later this season.

Jaebum said, “Obviously, we have a lot to learn from this event, and this will be our first World Championships and there will also be an Olympic berth on the line, so it’s an honor to just take part.”

Anyway, Jaebum took the chance to explain how he got into curling in the first place. “My sister played curling at school and that’s how I got into it.”

Its leading player, Pyo Jongmin, also took the regular route of participation. He explained: “I started out in a school club and then things got more serious.”

Both Korean teams in Lacombe were accompanied by Lee Min, who was hired by the national federation to assist the Korean teams during their competition in Canada. At this event he acted as a translator, in particular for working with the media.

Status of teams in Korea

He said: “The international participation of Korean teams is constantly increasing because they are fortunate to have more funding compared to other countries. This means that the majority of Koreans who compete internationally are paid athletes.”

Yi Min attributes this investment to the 2018 Winter Olympics held in PyeongChang in Korea.

He said, “The 2018 women’s silver medalists that Kim Eunjung missed started to rise and since then we have had many teams spend time in Canada. The Olympic silver medalists were known as the “Garlic Girls” and Ming believes curling began to flourish after their success. He said: “Certainly more schools are now taking part in curling and the numbers are growing slowly and steadily. I think it will grow steadily for a number of years. The federation’s main focus is grassroots and youth development, with a large number of junior and youth internal events. The hope is that this will eventually pay off internationally.”

Min also spoke about the priorities of the Winter Olympic Games in Korea. “At the Winter Olympics, the key sport in Korea is short track speed skating – it is the main event and the source of most medals, but there are two other areas that they concentrate on, namely curling and speed skating.”

Women’s Gym Team

Seol Yeji plays second on Kim Eunji’s women’s team and agrees with Min’s opinion that curling is growing in her country. “Baseball is the most popular men’s sport and volleyball is the most popular women’s sport, but curling is becoming more popular.”

Today, being a top Korean curler means being away from home often. As Yeji said, “When a team becomes a national team, it receives full support from the Olympic Committee and is a full-fledged athlete. That support is pretty strong, so the teams spend four or five months every year in Canada and we feel very happy to be here and represent our country.”

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, LinkedIn and Weibo and by searching the hashtag. #curly

Sign up for the World Curling newsletter and receive monthly updates straight to your inbox.