20 Dec 2025 - Courtney Smith and Anton Hood were unsuccessful in their quest at the Olympic Qualifying Event in Kelowna, Canada this week. The last two places in the 2026 Winter Olympics Mixed Doubles field were on offer.

Needing a top-two finish in their group to go through to the final qualification games, the pair made the best possible start with a win over Spain.

However, they then dropped the following three games to effectively drop out of contention to reach the next stage.

A surge in form saw them competitive against joint leaders China, before going down on the last stone of the game. A win over Hungary was followed by their best result of the week, a solid win against the strong Netherlands side that knocked the Dutch out of playoff contention.

This pair made strong commitments over the last four years to find themselves so close to the Olympics - including curling sabbaticals in Canada and Scotland, and two World Championship appearances (including one in lockdown).

But one of the toughest challenges they faced was to win the right to represent NZ, given the strength of their domestic challengers.

Their National Championship title in August also earned them the right to represent their country at next April's World Championship in Geneva, to kick off the next four-yearly Winter Olympic cycle.

 

• Live scoring
• NZ Mixed Doubles results at Winter Olympics OQE
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• World Curling tournament page
• Olympic.com tournament page

Courtney Smith and Anton Hood.  Photo: Stephen Fisher / World Curling

NZ v Spain. Photo: Stephen Fisher / World Curling