Kim Seon-yeong (curler) explained

Kim Seon-yeong
Birth Date:18 May 1993
Birth Place:Uiseong, South Korea[1]
Curling Club:Gangneung CC,
Gangneung, KOR
Skip:Kim Eun-jung
Third:Kim Kyeong-ae
Second:Kim Cho-hi
Lead:Kim Seon-yeong
Alternate:Kim Yeong-mi
Mixed Doubles Partner:Jeong Yeong-seok
World Championship Appearances:4
Pacific Championship Appearances:5
Olympic Appearances:2 (2018, 2022)
Hangul:김선영
Rr:Gim Seonyeong
Mr:Kim Sŏnyŏng

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.

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 Curling Championships.[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 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.

In June 2022, at the 2022 Korean Curling Championships, Team Kim lost their spot as the national team. After a 5–1 record, the team lost both the semifinal and bronze medal game to Chuncheon City Hall and Jeonbuk Province respectively.[17] It was their first time not reaching the podium in over a decade. Team Kim began their tour season at the 2022 Stu Sells Toronto Tankard where they lost in the semifinals to Team Tirinzoni.[18] The next week, they played in the first Slam of the season, the 2022 National, where they went 1–3.[19] After failing to qualify again at the 2022 Western Showdown, the team found success at the 2022 Tour Challenge as they qualified for the playoffs as the second seeds. They then lost to Gim Eun-ji in the quarterfinals.[20] They also lost to Team Gim in the quarterfinals of their next event, the Stu Sells Brantford Nissan Classic after previously being undefeated.[21] At the 2022 Masters, the team again missed the playoffs with a 1–3 record.[22] They ended their season early at the 2022 Karuizawa International Curling Championships where they qualified for the playoffs with a 2–1 record. After beating Sayaka Yoshimura 7–5 in the semifinal, they won 5–4 over Kerri Einarson to secure the event title.[23]

The following season, Team Kim finished second to Team Gim at the 2023 Korean Curling Championships, again not qualifying as the national team.[24] Despite this, the team had one of their best tour seasons to date. After two quarterfinal and one semifinal finish, they won the 2023 Stu Sells Tankard, defeating Sayaka Yoshimura 6–5 in the final.[25] They followed this up with a semifinal finish at the 2023 Players Open which included a quarterfinal win against world champions Silvana Tirinzoni. In October, the team won six straight games to claim the 2023 Tour Challenge Tier 2 title.[26] They won their third event the following month in Uiseong, defeating Team Gim in the final of the Uiseong Korean Cup. After losing the final of the 2023 Karuizawa International to Ikue Kitazawa, Team Kim bounced back immediately with an undefeated run at the 2023 Western Showdown.[27] After a 4–0 round robin record, they beat Gim, Isabella Wranå and Jolene Campbell in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final respectively. They then played their first Tier 1 Slam event of the year, the 2023 Masters, where they lost in a tiebreaker to Tabitha Peterson.[28] In the new year, they did qualify at the 2024 Canadian Open before a loss to Tirinzoni in the quarterfinals.[29] At the 2024 International Bernese Ladies Cup, the team made it to another final before losing to rivals Team Gim.[30] They finished their season at the 2024 Players' Championship with another quarterfinal loss to Tirinzoni.[31] After beginning the season in twenty-seventh place, Team Kim ranked seventh at the end of the 2023–24 season.[32]

Mixed doubles

Kim qualified for the 2022 Korean Mixed Doubles Curling Championship where she competed with Jeong Yeong-seok.[33] The pair qualified for the playoffs with a 2–1 record, but lost in the semifinal 8–4 to Kim Eun-bi and Yoo Min-hyeon. They were able to defeat Seon-yeong's fellow teammate Cho-hi and Oh Seung-hoon 7–6 to claim the bronze medal. The following season, Kim and Jeong teamed up again for the 2023 Korean Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, this time qualifying for the playoffs with a 6–2 record.[34] After defeating Bang Yu-jin and Pyo Jeong-min in a playoff game, they lost to Kim Hye-rin and Yoo Min-hyeon in the semifinal. For a second year in a row, they won the bronze medal with a 7–4 win over Lee Eun-chae and Kim Min-woo in the bronze medal game.

Grand Slam record

Event2015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–232023–24
Tour ChallengeSFDNPT2DNPDNPN/AN/AQFT2
The NationalQQDNPDNPDNPN/ADNPQDNP
MastersQQFDNPDNPDNPN/ASFQQ
Canadian OpenQDNPSFDNPDNPN/AN/ADNPQF
Players'DNPDNPQDNPN/ADNPDNPDNPQF
Champions CupDNPDNPDNPDNPN/ADNPQDNPN/A

Former events

Event2013–142014–15
Autumn GoldDNPQ
Colonial SquareQFDNP

Notes and References

  1. 2018 Ford World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide
  2. Web site: Team EunJung Kim. March 21, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170322015103/http://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/curling/team-eunjung-kim/. March 22, 2017. dead.
  3. Web site: South Korean curling official leaves sport over alleged abuse of 'Garlic Girls'. CBC Sports. August 3, 2019.
  4. News: GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season. Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. March 23, 2020.
  5. Web site: 2020 Korean National Women's Curling Championship. CurlingZone. June 26, 2021.
  6. News: World Women's Curling Championship 2021: Results, standings, schedule and TV channel. Sporting News. Jackie Spiegel. May 9, 2021. June 26, 2021.
  7. News: Team Kim curlers find new beginning with Gangneung. Korea JoongAng Daily. March 4, 2021. June 26, 2021.
  8. News: 베이징 올림픽 대표를 포함한 2021-2022 컬링 국가대표를 뽑는 2021 KB금융 한국컬링선수권대회 with 강릉.. https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/CQSZEAUDAA8. 2021-12-26. registration. Korean. curling1spoon. Instagram. June 19, 2021. June 16, 2022.
  9. News: 여자부 강릉시청 '팀 킴'은 2차전 5승 1패로 우승해 오는 12월 열리는 베이징 올림픽 자격대회에 출전하게 됐습니다. 축하합니다.. https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/CQ082klMfdp . 2021-12-26 . registration. Korean. curling1spoon. Instagram. July 2, 2021. June 16, 2022.
  10. Web site: Alberta Curling Series: Saville Shoot-Out. CurlingZone. June 16, 2022.
  11. News: Jacobs to meet Mouat in Masters men's final. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. October 23, 2021. June 16, 2022.
  12. News: Japan women and Korea men win Pacific-Asia Curling Championships. World Curling Federation. November 13, 2021. June 11, 2022.
  13. News: Korea women qualify for Beijing. World Curling Federation. December 18, 2021. June 16, 2022. December 18, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211218155937/https://worldcurling.org/2021/12/oqe-women-final-2/. dead.
  14. News: Play-off match-ups set at the World Women's. World Curling Federation. March 26, 2022. June 16, 2022. October 16, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221016024500/https://worldcurling.org/2022/03/wwcc2022-s20/. dead.
  15. News: Crushing defeat. Curling Canada. March 27, 2022. June 16, 2022.
  16. News: Switzerland defend their World Women's title in Prince George. World Curling Federation. March 28, 2022. June 16, 2022. March 28, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220328122249/https://worldcurling.org/2022/03/wwcc2022-gold/. dead.
  17. New Champions in Korea. The Curling News. Sports Illustrated. June 20, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  18. News: Wins from Tirinzoni and Edin highlight busy weekend in curling. TSN. October 3, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  19. News: Fujisawa fends off Einarson to stay undefeated in Boost National. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. October 7, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  20. News: Wrana upsets top-seed Tirinzoni in HearingLife Tour Challenge quarterfinals. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. October 22, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  21. News: Gim wins again at Stu Sells Brantford Nissan Classic. CurlingZone. July 22, 2023.
  22. News: Team Jones edge Team Lawes to slide into WFG Masters playoffs. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. December 9, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  23. News: Kim defeats Einarson in Karuizawa International final. TSN. December 20, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  24. Web site: 2023 Korean Curling Championships – Women. CurlingZone. April 21, 2024.
  25. News: Korea's EunJung Kim wins Stu Sells Tankard. CurlingZone. April 21, 2024.
  26. News: Jones tops Lawes to claim HearingLife Tour Challenge women's title. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. October 22, 2023. April 21, 2024.
  27. News: Schwaller, Kim find victory at Western Showdown in Swift Current. TSN. December 11, 2023. April 21, 2024.
  28. News: Whyte beats Edin to earn final playoff spot at WFG Masters. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. December 16, 2023. April 21, 2024.
  29. News: Jones, Homan face again in semifinals at Co-op Canadian Open. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. January 20, 2024. April 21, 2024.
  30. Web site: 2024 International Bernese Ladies Cup. CurlingZone. April 21, 2024.
  31. News: Gim, Tirinzoni advance to Princess Auto Players' Championship semifinals. Grand Slam of Curling. Jonathan Brazeau. April 13, 2024. April 21, 2024.
  32. Web site: 2023–24 World Curling Team Ranking: Women. CurlingZone. April 21, 2024.
  33. News: 2022 한국컬링선수권대회 : 믹스더블 강원도 지역대표 선발전. Korean. curling1spoon. Instagram. June 23, 2022. July 22, 2023.
  34. News: 2023 한국컬링선수권대회 : 믹스더블 조편성 안내. Korean. curling1spoon. Instagram. July 18, 2023. April 21, 2024.