Source : ABC NEWS
Australia’s mixed curling pairing of Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt have won a historic bronze medal at the World Curling Championships in Fredericton, Canada.
However, they still have work to do in order to make a second consecutive Olympic Games appearance.
In Canada, the Aussies beat Estonia 9-2 in the third-place play-off, having narrowly lost to Scotland 9-6 in the semi-finals.
It is Australia’s first curling medal at a World Championships.
“It’s been a fantastic feeling coming through and building throughout the entire year this year … that’s close to 11 podiums for the entire year,” Hewitt told World Curling.
“We’re proud of what we’ve done.
“Coming up a little bit short for the Olympic qualification directly is bittersweet,
“But getting the bronze? We can’t be too disappointed with that.”
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Gill and Hewitt’s previous best performance was at the 2019 World Championships when they finished fourth, just a year after combining as a pair for the first time.
They also finished in 10th spot at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing — an extraordinary achievement as the first Australian curlers to make an Olympics, but one that was tempered by Gill repeatedly testing positive for COVID-19 in the latter stages of the competition.
Having lost four of their first five match-ups by a single point in the Beijing Ice Cube, the pair concluded their tournament by beating Canada and Switzerland, the PyeongChang 2018 gold and silver medallists.
To make that Games, the Aussies had to go through the Olympic Qualification Event in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, where they won a spectacular seven matches out of seven to reach the Olympics for the first time.
To reach the Milano-Cortina Games in 2026, they will likely have to do the same.
Despite their World Championships bronze and having won the third-most points of any team across 2025, a relatively poor 2024 season meant the Aussies fell just a single point short of the top eight teams through the qualification period.
Teams earned points through their finishing positions at tournaments throughout 2024 and 2025.
Only the top eight teams after the 2024/25 qualification period are guaranteed a spot at the Games.
The qualified teams are Italy, Estonia, Sweden, Great Britain (competing as Scotland in World Curling events), Norway, Canada, Switzerland and the United States of America.
Victory over Scotland in the semifinal would have been enough for the Aussies to pip US pairing Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin to that sought-after top-eight spot.
The final two places will be decided at the Olympic Qualification Event, set to be held in Kelowna, Canada, from December 6-19,2025.
“It’s huge for us,” Gill said of winning bronze.
“We’ve worked really hard for this moment.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling, but it definitely gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.
“The momentum isn’t going to stop and we’re going to keep pushing.”
