Valuable experience gained at World Junior-Bs
Juniors
22 Dec 2025 - The NZ Junior Men's tournament at the World Junior-B Curling Championship in Lohja, Finland shadowed that of the NZ Women, with both sides earning late wins in their group games to boost their rankings.
Two new caps from the Auckland Youth Development Programme, Abraham Chanwong and Cyrus Wei, were teamed with seasoned internationals Jed Nevill, William Loe, and Jack Steele, and coached by Denmark’s Mikael Qvist.
They showed early form with a narrow, extra-end loss to group contenders Türkiye, and later enjoyed close wins over the Philippines and Solovakia.
The side finished fifth in their group with a 2-4 win-loss record, and 14th overall.
The tournament provided both NZ teams with valuable international experience for future campaigns.
NZ Junior Women
The Junior Women's Championship was held at the same venue over the previous week. The NZ Women were delighted with their solid performance, finishing fourth in their group and 10th overall in the 22-strong field.
Tahlia Petersen (skip), Ellie McKenzie, Olivia Russell, Tylah James, and Trinity Cowie finished the tournament with a 3-4 win-loss record - with two of those losses coming on the last stone of an extra end. Benjamin Frew coached the team.
"We are all so proud of how we played, and we wish Tahlia good luck as she ages out of juniors," they posted on their Instagram page. "Thank you to Carmel Leslie and Benji Frew, we have been so blessed to have you as our support team on and off the ice."
"Another big thank you to our sponsor @public_qt! And of course, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported our fundraisers leading up to this competition."
The rankings from this tournament are part of the qualification process for the 2028 Winter Youth Olympics.
The whole NZ curling community has supported both teams this year, with fundraising and training helped by so many. It is only because of their dedication to our athletes that they are able to have this experience and continue to be fortunate enough to chase their curling dreams.
- Live scoring
- NZ results at World Juniors & Junior-B - Women | Men
- World Curling Tournament page
- NZ Women - Instagram
NZ Women - Results
| Group A Results | Group Standings | W | L | Qual | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 7 | - | 3 | NZ | 1 | Japan | 7 | 0 | Q | ||
| Türkiye | 6 | - | 4 | NZ | 2 | Italy | 5 | 2 | Q | ||
| Estonia | 7 | - | 6 | NZ (EE) | 3 | Türkiye | 5 | 2 | Q | ||
| NZ | 10 | - | 4 | England | 4 | New Zealand | 3 | 4 | |||
| Italy | 4 | - | 3 | NZ (EE) | 5 | Romania | 2 | 5 | |||
| NZ | 11 | - | 2 | Australia | 6 | Australia | 2 | 5 | |||
| NZ | 7 | - | 4 | Romania | 7 | England | 2 | 5 | |||
| 8 | Estonia | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| Q = Qualified for playoffs | |||||||||||
NZ Men - Results
| Group Results | Group Standings | W | L | Qual | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 8 | - | 4 | NZ | 1 | Germany | 5 | 1 | Q | ||
| Türkiye | 6 | - | 5 | NZ (EE) | 2 | Poland | 5 | 1 | Q | ||
| Spain | 6 | - | 5 | NZ | 3 | Türkiye | 5 | 1 | |||
| NZ | 6 | - | 5 | Slovakia | 4 | Philippines | 2 | 4 | |||
| Poland | 7 | - | 5 | NZ | 5 | New Zealand | 2 | 4 | |||
| NZ | 7 | - | 6 | Philippines | 6 | Spain | 1 | 4 | |||
| 7 | Slovakia | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Q = Qualified for playoffs | |||||||||||
From left - Tahlia Petersen, Ellie McKenzie, Olivia Russell, Tyla James, Trinity Cowie
From left - Jed Nevill, William Loe, Jack Steele, Abraham Chanwong, Cyrus Wei