12 Oct 2025 – The Olympic dream continues! It was mission accomplished for the NZ Men's curling team at the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Event in Aberdeen this week.

Anton Hood, Hunter Walker, Ben Smith, Brett Sargon, and Jared Palanuik won their final playoff match against Denmark to earn the last remaining place in December's Olympic Qualifying Event in Kelowna, Canada. The eight-team Kelowna event will decide the last two teams to compete for Olympic gold at the Milano Cortina Games.

Seven Men's teams were competing this week for three places in Kelowna. NZ opened their tournament by comfortably taking the Trans-Tasman derby against Australia, followed up by a narrow 9-8 win over Poland. But they then suffered their only loss of the round-robin, beaten by the Philippines on the last stone of the match.

"The team were disappointed to lose that tight one," said coach Iain Cormack after that match. "But they're playing well, on fabulous ice, and are confident for the rest of the week!"

Three subsequent wins saw the Kiwis finish the preliminary round in second place behind the Philippines, whose top ranking earned them direct entry to the OQE.

New Zealand played third-placed Poland in the first of two playoff matches, with the winner qualifying for the OQE. The Poles trailed until turning the match on its head with a 4-point end in the ninth to take a one shot lead. NZ missed an opportunity to score a second point in the tenth end to seal the win, and the Poles went on to take the extra end win 6-5.

Team Hood's ranking gave them a second life, and they played fourth-placed Denmark in the final sudden-death qualifier. The Kiwis opened the scoring with a single and stole three ends until Denmark scored a sole point in the seventh end.

NZ did not miss their opportunity in the next end, having two stones in the house and Denmark sitting shot stone near the button. Anton Hood opted for the hit and roll and judged it perfectly, scoring three to lead 7-1 and prompt handshakes from Team Denmark.

"Excited is an understatement," said Hood afterwards. "I think probably a wee bit of relief, I'd say, given how well the guys played during the week and how incredible our support staff were when we lost this morning. It was quite deflating, so we're ecstatic to get through."
 

• Olympics.com Tournament page – stories
• World Curling's tournament page – live scores
• Curling Stadium Europe – streaming
• Curl Aberdeen – Facebook | Instagram
• Team Hood – Facebook | Instagram