Kim Seon-yeong (born May 18, 1993), nicknamed "Sunny",[2] 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
^"베이징 올림픽 대표를 포함한 2021-2022 컬링 국가대표를 뽑는 2021 KB금융 한국컬링선수권대회 with 강릉" [The 2021 KB Financial Group Korea Curling Championships with Gangneung will select the 2021-2022 national curling team, including the Beijing Olympic team.]. Instagram (in Korean). curling1spoon. June 19, 2021. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
^"여자부 강릉시청 '팀 킴'은 2차전 5승 1패로 우승해 오는 12월 열리는 베이징 올림픽 자격대회에 출전하게 됐습니다. 축하합니다" [Gangneung City Hall Women's Team Kim won the second round with 5 wins and 1 loss and will be participating in the Beijing Olympic Qualification Tournament in December. Congratulations.]. Instagram (in Korean). curling1spoon. July 2, 2021. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
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