THE PHILIPPINE curling team went unbeaten in a pre-Olympic qualification event at the Curl Aberdeen in Scotland over the weekend to move tantalizingly close to qualifying for the 2026 Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics in February.

The 2025 Asian Winter Games gold medal-winning team of heritage athletes Marc Pfister, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister, Brayden Carpenter and alternate Alan Frei automatically advanced to the Olympic Qualification 2025 event in Kelowna, British Columbia, in Canada from December 6 to 19.

The top two teams in Kelowna  will qualify for the Winter Olympics set February 4 to 22.

“We’re so happy to announce that our Philippine men’s curling team is just a door step away from making it to Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo,” Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said.

The same team beat South Korea, 5-3, in the men’s team final in Harbin last February for a historic first gold medal for the Philippines in any winter sports games.

In Aberdeen, the Pfister and company went unblemished with victories Pfister Denmark, 7-4; Chinese Taipei, 10-0; New Zealand, 6-5; Australia, 9 (7)-4; and Poland, 7-2.

“They performed really well in Scotland and we are proud of them. We expect them to advance, and we are calling the entire nation for support and prayers,” Tolentino said.

“We are also hoping that the PSC [Philippine Sports Commission] support their campaign.”

Ten countries—120 quotas or 60 in each of the men and women categories—plus host Italy will qualify for the Winter Olympics.

Men’s teams from Czechia, Poland and New Zealand and Germany and Australia’s women’s squads also made the qualifiers in Canada.