NZ Men miss Winter Olympics spot
Olympics
12 Dec 2025 - The valiant campaign of the New Zealand Men's team for a place at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games is over. They were unsuccessful in their attempt to earn one of the last two places available at the just-completed Olympic Qualifying event in Kelowna, British Columbia.
The team in Kelowna was Anton Hood (skip), Hunter Walker, Ben Smith, Brett Sargon, and Jared Palanuik. They were coached by Carolyn McRorie.
In COVID-hit NZ early in the 4-year Olympic cycle, this crew gathered together and committed to putting it all on the line to try and get to the 2026 Games.
That journey saw them live in Canada for a season, sell the rights to their story of living in a Canadian Old Folks Home (with a movie in the mix), play in 3 Pan-Continental Championships, qualify and play in 2 World Champs, and compete in numerous bonspiels across Canada against the best teams in the world... all while trying to manage careers, relationships, finances, and families.
Their commitment to try and become the best curling versions of themselves is simply inspiring.
Results
| Round Robin - NZ | RR Standings | W | L | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philippines | 6 | - | 2 | NZ | 1 | China | 6 | 1 | P | |
| NZ | 7 | - | 6 | Korea | 2 | USA | 6 | 1 | P | |
| Netherlands | 7 | - | 4 | NZ | 3 | Japan | 5 | 2 | P | |
| China | 7 | - | 2 | NZ | 4 | Korea | 3 | 4 | ||
| USA | 6 | - | 5 | NZ | 5 | Netherlands | 3 | 4 | ||
| Japan | 7 | - | 3 | NZ | 6 | Philippines | 3 | 4 | ||
| NZ | 10 | - | 8 | Poland | 7 | New Zealand | 2 | 5 | ||
| 8 | Poland | 0 | 7 | |||||||
| Qualification Games | P = playoffs | |||||||||
| USA | 9 | - | 4 | China | USA > OG | |||||
| China | 9 | - | 4 | Japan | China > OG | |||||
From left - Jared Palanuik, Brett Sargon, Ben Smith, Hunter Walker, Anton Hood. Photo: Stephen Fisher / World Curling