Heartbroken Aussie curlers Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt have missed out on a spot at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Despite rising to become the number one-ranked pair in the world last month and winning a historic bronze medal at the 2025 World Championships, the Aussies still needed to qualify for the Games after only being ranked eighth during the qualification period.
Only the top seven, plus hosts Italy, were guaranteed an Olympic spot.
An uncharacteristically poor 15th-place finish at the 2024 world titles was the crucial moment that meant the Aussies needed to go through this do-or-die Olympic qualification tournament in Kelowna, Canada.
Gill and Hewitt topped their qualification group with a 6-1 win-loss record after a thrilling 6-5 victory over China in their final round robin game.
That put them into a clash with Pool A winners Czechia for a chance to win straight through to the Games.
However, the Aussies lost that one 6-5, putting them into a winner-takes-all decider against Pool A runners up South Korea, who beat China 7-3.
Delicately poised through the first four ends at 3-3, South Korea scored with three of their stones in the fifth.
Australia hit back with two of their own in the sixth, but were chasing from there on out, with Korea sealing the victory with an emphatic 3-stone eighth end to secure a 10-5 victory.
At the Beijing Games the Aussies placed 10th, finishing strongly to beat defending Olympic champions Canada.
However, the pair had a chaotic time in Beijing, with Gill kept in isolation away from all competitors, including Hewitt, apart from when she was on the ice.
She had contracted COVID-19 months earlier but daily testing wavered between positive and negative CT levels and the team was told to leave the Games, before a late reprieve allowed them to complete the final two competition rounds.
