Kim Seon-yeong (curler)
Kim Seon-yeong, nicknamed "Sunny"[2] (born May 18, 1993) is a South Korean curler. She was the second, but now plays lead on Team Kim Eun-jung. The Kim team represented South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they won a silver medal.
| Kim Seon-yeong | |
| Hangul | 김선영 |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Gim Seonyeong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Sŏnyŏng |
Career
Juniors
Kim played in five straight Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships for South Korea from 2010 to 2014. She played second for the team, which was skipped by Kim Eun-jung in 2010 and 2012, and was the alternate in 2011 (but played no games). In 2013 and 2014, she played third for the team, which was skipped by Kim Kyeong-ae. She won silver medals at the event from 2010 to 2013 inclusive, a bronze medal in 2013, and a gold in 2014.
The gold at the 2014 Pacific Juniors qualified the team to represent South Korea at the 2014 World Junior Curling Championships. The team finished the round robin with a 7–2 record, tied with Canada for first place. After losing the 1 vs. 2 game to Canada (skipped by Kelsey Rocque), the team beat Sweden in the semifinal before once again losing to Canada in a rematch in the gold medal final.
Kim has represented South Korea's Gyeongbuk Science College in two Winter Universiades, playing second for Kim Eun-jung at both the 2015 and 2017 Winter Universiades, finishing 5th and 6th respectively.
Women's
While still a junior curler, Kim first represented her country at the women's level at the 2012 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, playing second for Kim Eun-jung, who she also played with in juniors. There, the team won a bronze medal. The team returned to the event in 2014, where they won a bronze medal. This would've qualified them for the 2015 World Championships, but the Worlds were held in Japan, which qualified over South Korea as hosts. The team would, however, win a gold medal at the 2016 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, earning them the right to play in the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship in China. Also, in 2017, the team won a silver medal at the 2017 Asian Winter Games.
Team Kim won the 2017 South Korean championship, qualifying the team to represent South Korea on home ice at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The team began the 2017-18 curling season by winning the 2017 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships. As the host nation, the team received celebrity status in Korea as the "garlic girls", as their hometown of Uiseong is known for its garlic production. The team had an impressive run, making it to the gold medal final, where they lost to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg rink. The following month, the team played in the 2018 Ford World Women's Curling Championship, where they lost in the quarterfinals.
The garlic girls did not play much in the 2018–19 season amidst a coaching scandal, which involved the country's sport federation vice president verbally abusing the team.[3] The team did play in the final event of the season, the 2019 WCT Arctic Cup where they finished with a 1–3 record, missing the playoffs.
Team Kim returned to the World Curling Tour for the 2019–20 season but with Kim Kyeong-ae skipping. They qualified for the playoffs at the 2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic, the 2019 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and finished runner-up at the inaugural WCT Uiseong International Curling Cup. Kim Eun-jung rejoined the team at the 2019 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, where she would throw second stones. They had a quarterfinal finish. Team Kim also had a quarterfinal finish the following week at the 2019 Canad Inns Women's Classic, where Kim Eun-jung returned to throwing skip stones. They made it to the final of the 2019 Changan Ford International Curling Elite and finished fourth at the 2019 China Open in December 2019. In the new year, they had a quarterfinal finish at the International Bernese Ladies Cup, and they won the Glynhill Ladies International. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
The Kim rink began the abbreviated 2020–21 season by winning their national championship at the 2020 Korean Women's Curling Championship.[5] After finishing 6–0 through the round robin, her team defeated Kim Min-ji 6–5 in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game and won 7–5 over Gim Un-chi in the championship final. Their win qualified them to represent Korea at the 2021 World Women's Curling Championship. The team had a slow start, losing their first four games before going 7–2 in their final nine games. Their 7–6 record placed them seventh after the round robin, not enough to qualify for the playoffs and the 2022 Winter Olympics.[6] The team also changed home clubs during the season, switching from the Uiseong Curling Club to the Gangneung Curling Centre after their contract expired with the Gyeongsangbukdo Sports Council.[7]
Team Kim began the 2021–22 season at the 2021 Korean Curling Championships in June, which also doubled as the selection event for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.[8] Through the event, the team posted a strong 11–1 record, once again securing the national title.[9] The team also won their next event, the 2021 Alberta Curling Series: Saville Shoot-Out in September, after an undefeated record.[10] Elsewhere on tour, the team reached the semifinals of both the 2021 Sherwood Park Women's Curling Classic and the 2021 Masters Grand Slam event.[11] In international play, Team Kim represented South Korea at the 2021 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships. The team finished the round robin with a 5–1 record, tied with Japan. Japan had a better draw shot challenge record, forcing Korea into a semifinal match against Kazakhstan. Team Kim beat Kazakhstan but lost to Japan in the gold medal game, settling for silver.[12] Because they had failed to qualify for the Olympics at the 2021 World Championship, the team then had to play in the Olympic Qualification Event to qualify South Korea for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The team posted a 6–2 record through the round robin, putting them into the playoffs. There, they lost to Japan in their first game but rebounded to beat Latvia in their second, qualifying Korea for the Winter Games.[13] At the Olympics, the team could not replicate their success from PyeongChang 2018 and finished the event in eighth with a 4–5 record. The team had much more success at the 2022 World Women's Curling Championship. They finished the round robin with a 9–3 record, in second place.[14] This gave them a bye to the semifinals, where they beat the host Canadian team skipped by Kerri Einarson.[15] This put them into the gold medal game where they played Switzerland, skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni. The team was not as successful against the Swiss, losing to them 7–6, settling for the silver medal, Korea's best-ever finish at the Worlds.[16] A few weeks later, the team wrapped up their season at the 2022 Champions Cup, where they lost in a tiebreaker to Einarson.
Grand Slam record
| Key | |
|---|---|
| C | Champion |
| F | Lost in Final |
| SF | Lost in Semifinal |
| QF | Lost in Quarterfinals |
| R16 | Lost in the round of 16 |
| Q | Did not advance to playoffs |
| T2 | Played in Tier 2 event |
| DNP | Did not participate in event |
| N/A | Not a Grand Slam event that season |
| Event | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The National | Q | Q | DNP | DNP | DNP | N/A | DNP | Q |
| Tour Challenge | SF | DNP | T2 | DNP | DNP | N/A | N/A | QF |
| Masters | Q | QF | DNP | DNP | DNP | N/A | SF | Q |
| Canadian Open | Q | DNP | SF | DNP | DNP | N/A | N/A | DNP |
| Players' | DNP | DNP | Q | DNP | N/A | DNP | DNP | |
| Champions Cup | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | N/A | DNP | Q |
Former events
| Event | 2013–14 | 2014–15 |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn Gold | DNP | Q |
| Colonial Square | QF | DNP |
References
- ^ 2018 Ford World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide
- ^ . Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ "South Korean curling official leaves sport over alleged abuse of 'Garlic Girls'". CBC Sports. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
- ^ "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ "2020 Korean National Women's Curling Championship". CurlingZone. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
- ^ Jackie Spiegel (May 9, 2021). "World Women's Curling Championship 2021: Results, standings, schedule and TV channel". Sporting News. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
- ^ "Team Kim curlers find new beginning with Gangneung". Korea JoongAng Daily. March 4, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
- ^ "베이징 올림픽 대표를 포함한 2021-2022 컬링 국가대표를 뽑는 2021 KB금융 한국컬링선수권대회 with 강릉". Instagram (in Korean). curling1spoon. June 19, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ "여자부 강릉시청 '팀 킴'은 2차전 5승 1패로 우승해 오는 12월 열리는 베이징 올림픽 자격대회에 출전하게 됐습니다. 축하합니다". Instagram (in Korean). curling1spoon. July 2, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ "Alberta Curling Series: Saville Shoot-Out". CurlingZone. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ Jonathan Brazeau (October 23, 2021). "Jacobs to meet Mouat in Masters men's final". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ "Japan women and Korea men win Pacific-Asia Curling Championships". World Curling Federation. November 13, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
- ^ "Korea women qualify for Beijing". World Curling Federation. December 18, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ "Play-off match-ups set at the World Women's". World Curling Federation. March 26, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ "Crushing defeat". Curling Canada. March 27, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ "Switzerland defend their World Women's title in Prince George". World Curling Federation. March 28, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
External links
- Kim Seon-yeong at World Curling Federation
- Kim Seon-yeong at Olympics.com
- Kim Seon-yeong at Olympedia