Baek Hyejin and Lee Yongseok Advance to Wheelchair Curling Mixed Doubles Semifinals, Eyeing First Medal in 16 Years

10-0 Forfeit Win Against Estonia After Six Ends
Advances to Semifinals as Third Overall With Four Wins and Three Losses in Preliminaries

The world's top-ranked wheelchair curling mixed doubles team, Hyejin Baek (43) and Yongseok Lee (42), has advanced to the semifinals of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics.

On March 9 (local time), at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Italy, Baek and Lee secured a forfeit victory (10-0) after six ends against Estonia, currently ranked 7th in the world, in the final seventh preliminary match. Korea is now aiming for its first medal in 16 years since winning silver at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Hyejin Baek (right) and Yongseok Lee are discussing strategy during the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics wheelchair curling mixed doubles preliminary game against Estonia at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Italy on the 9th (local time). Photo by Yonhap News

Wheelchair curling matches are played over eight ends, and if the score gap becomes significant, the losing team may concede the match.

Korea seized the initiative by scoring three points in the first end and went on to score in every subsequent end, achieving a decisive win over Estonia.

Korea finished the preliminary round with four wins and three losses, ranking third overall to advance to the semifinals.

The wheelchair curling mixed doubles event features eight teams, who compete in a round-robin format in seven preliminary matches, after which the top four teams advance to the semifinals to compete for medals.

In the semifinals, the first and fourth seeds, and the second and third seeds, face off respectively. Korea will compete for a spot in the final against the United States (ranked 5th in the world), whom they previously defeated in the preliminaries, at 10:35 PM KST on March 10. Korea secured a forfeit victory (10-1) against the United States after six ends in the preliminary round.

At the 2010 Vancouver Games, where Korea won its first ever silver medal in wheelchair curling, only the mixed four-person event was held. This is the first time that mixed doubles has been included as an official event in the Paralympics.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.