Lasting memories, friendships from Youth Olympics
Youth Olympics
9 Feb 2024 – New Zealand's Winter Youth Olympic curlers didn't bring any medals home from the Games in Gangwon, South Korea but have experiences, memories and friendships to treasure for a lifetime.
Ellie McKenzie, Jed Nevill, Olivia Russell and Jack Steele had been training regularly since returning last August from a week-long Youth training and development camp in Norway. Jed Nevill summed it up for the team in the build-up. "The whole experience will be awesome," he said. "Wearing the fern will be pretty cool."
And it got even cooler for Jed when he and snowboarder Lucia Georgalli were named as joint flagbearers for the NZ Team in the opening ceremony.
Once the Games got under way, the curling squad were busy as their two events spanned the full 13 days of competition.
First up was a Mixed teams event, with the 16 competing nations in two pools. The Kiwis were competitive in many of their pool games but not consistently able to finish them off, finishing with a single win in their seven games. New Zealand finished 13th overall, as Great Britain, Denmark and Switzerland filled the podium.
The Mixed Doubles competition followed, with a different format from previous Games. Previously, each member of the team was paired with a player from another nation for a knockout tournament. It changed this year to a more conventional team tournament, with Olivia Russell and Jed Nevill representing NZ in the 24-nation event.
They had a solid win in their opening match against Brazil but lost the remaining four - building some good positions in many ends, but with their opponents often finding a way through. Great Britain, Denmark and the USA claimed the medals, and New Zealand finished 20th.
The 22-strong NZ Youth Olympic Team brought home seven medals across Freestyle Skiing, Snowboard and Figure Skating disciplines.
- NZ Curling updates – Facebook | Instagram
- Winter Youth Olympics results page
- World Curling tournament page
- NZ Olympic Team – Website | Facebook | Instagram
- NZ results at Winter Youth Olympic Games – Mixed | Mixed Doubles
Olivia Russell talks to Anna Thomas on RNZ
NZ Draw and Results
| Mixed | ||||||||||
| Group A Results | Group A Standings | W | L | Qual | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ | 3 | - | 9 | Sweden | 1 | China | 6 | 1 | Q | |
| NZ | 4 | - | 8 | USA | 2 | USA | 6 | 1 | Q | |
| NZ | 1 | - | 9 | China | 3 | Japan | 5 | 2 | Q | |
| NZ | 12 | - | 1 | Nigeria | 4 | Sweden | 5 | 2 | ||
| NZ | 2 | - | 6 | Japan | 5 | Norway | 3 | 4 | ||
| NZ | 2 | - | 5 | Norway | 6 | Türkiye | 2 | 5 | ||
| NZ | 3 | - | 6 | Türkiye | 7 | New Zealand | 1 | 6 | ||
| 8 | Nigeria | 0 | 7 | |||||||
| Q = qualified for playoffs | ||||||||||
| Mixed Doubles | ||||||||||
| Group C Results | Group C Standings | W | L | Qual | ||||||
| NZ | 12 | - | 5 | Brazil | 1 | China | 5 | 0 | Q | |
| NZ | 3 | - | 6 | Türkiye | 2 | Japan | 4 | 1 | Q | |
| NZ | 4 | - | 9 | Latvia | 3 | Latvia | 3 | 2 | ||
| NZ | 2 | - | 11 | Japan | 4 | Türkiye | 2 | 3 | ||
| NZ | 4 | - | 12 | China | 5 | New Zealand | 1 | 4 | ||
| 6 | Brazil | 0 | 5 | |||||||
| Q = qualified for playoffs | ||||||||||
Mixed Team L-R: Ellie McKenzie, Jack Steele, Olivia Russell, and Jed Nevill
Mixed Doubles team: Olivia Russell and Jed Nevill, with coach Bridget Becker