Asian champ Philippine curling team eyes 2026 Winter Olympics
WINNING a historic gold medal in the 2025 Asian Winter Games is only the beginning for the Filipino curlers.
Fresh off a sweet conquest in Harbin, China, the Philippine national curling team is setting its sights on the ultimate goal of making it to the 2026 Winter Olympics starting with a bevy of qualifying tournaments this year.
“We want to achieve that goal of going to the Olympics. That’s our only goal right now and we will train hard for that,” said team member and entrepreneur-turned-athlete Alan Frei during his media availability on Wednesday at the SM North EDSA Annex in Quezon City.
Mr. Frei, along with Marc and Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller and Curling Pilipinas President Benjo Delarmente, steered the Philippines to a stunning 5-3 win over former two-time champion South Korea to bring home the country’s first Asian winter gold mint.
The Filipino curlers also dethroned multiple-silver medalist Japan and reigning champion China on the way to history, completing a Cinderella run as an unheralded tropical island against powerhouse winter countries.
Up next for them is the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, vowing the valiant fight in multiple qualifying tournaments to trust the Philippine flag to greater heights anew.
“Everybody is riding on a high right now with the Asian Games gold medal but we need to be realistic about it. It’s gonna be harder but it doesn’t matter,” vowed the 42-year-old Filipino-Swiss, now based in Zurich but traces his roots in Leyte.
“It could be a 1% or 20% chance and we still just want to make it happen. We’re committed to achieving that. That’s still a chance.”
To do that, Mr. Frei and company will participate in curling masters in Switzerland and Norway starting in August before a much-anticipated stint in the Pan-Continental World Championships and the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in October, at a still-to-be-announced host country.
Curling Pilipinas, which started only with two personnel before growing to 100-strong for the Asian Winter Games, is also in the process of adding one or two Filipino-Canadian prospects to complete the training pool with a continuous training camp in Switzerland.
More than the success though, Mr. Frei is dreaming of the growth of the sport in the Philippines despite it being a tropical country, especially with the potential of the Filipinos in precision and accuracy games owing to our culture in billiards and golf.
“Curling is growing. With more success, awareness will come. The next step for us is put up a program where Filipinos can go to South Korea and Japan to learn to curl. From there, maybe we can have curling facilities,” Mr. Frei, who also tried cross-country skiing before curling, beamed. — John Bryan Ulanday
