Australia's world number one curling duo miss Winter Olympics after heartbreaking sudden-death loss
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Australia's world No.1-ranked curling duo, Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt, have had their dream of contending for a medal at the 2026 Olympic Games crushed in a brutal sudden-death playoff after they fell to Korea in the Milano-Cortina qualification game.
Gill and Hewitt were in a strong position on Friday (AEDT) to progress through qualifying after making it through to the final day of the tournament in Canada as one of the top two-ranked teams.
That left them with a clear mission and a double chance. Win their match against Czechia, and they would qualify. Lose it, and they would have another chance against the winner of a China v Korea sudden death game.
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Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill will not be at the Winter Olympics in 2026. Getty
Alas, it wasn't to be.
Gill and Hewitt lost by a single point to Czechia, and they were unable to put that devastating loss behind them in their final chance encounter against Korea hours later.
Korea kept the Aussie duo on their toes and broke out with an early lead to make it 3-1, before romping home for a 10-5 victory that eliminated the No.1 seeds.
The crushing pair of losses came at the end of a week-long tournament in Kelowna, Canada, with the top teams in the world who had yet to qualify for the Winter Olympics all vying for the ninth and 10th spots in the mixed curling competition at Milano-Cortina.
The Australian duo leapfrogged Estonia to take the world number one ranking earlier in the year, but faced an uphill battle to qualify and compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill modelled the 2026 Olympic uniform, but will not be heading to the Games. Mark Nolan via Getty Images
Only the top seven teams are guaranteed an Olympic spot out of the overall points in curling world titles, with the eighth spot handed to host Italy, which directly qualifies.
The Australian duo missed direct qualification by one point after an uncharacteristically poor 15th-place finish at the 2024 world titles, combined with this year's third, which put them in eighth spot overall, one place below the mark they needed to directly qualify.
That result forced them to navigate an arduous competition in Kelowna with 16 teams all vying for the final two spots.
The Australian curling duo missed out on their sudden-death Olympic qualifier. Instagram
The Aussie pair beat China on Thursday (AEDT) to send them into the final four as one of the top two qualifiers, along with Czechia, but they were unable to keep the momentum when it mattered most.
Perhaps disappointed that they hadn't already sealed their fate, the Aussie pair were well below their best against Korea's Seonyeong Kim and Yeongseok Jeong.
Gill and Hewitt were graceful in defeat and shook hands with their rivals, but Australia's Winter Olympics team will now be two athletes short of what they would have been expecting, with a clear medal shot evaporating.
