[Women’s Curling] The Three-Way Battle on Ice for Olympic Glory
After the fierce battle at the Japan Championships, the final game will be held in Wakkanai in September to decide the representatives for the Olympics. Rocco Solare" led by Mayuki Fujisawa, "SC Karuizawa Club", the champion of the previous year, and "Fortius" with Sayaka Yoshimura.
Winning in Japan is harder than winning in the world
“Golden Generation” Faces Fierce Competition in Japanese Curling
“It seems like people call us the ‘golden generation’ (laughs), but I think our generation is defined by relentless effort. I want to cherish that as I continue to play.”
These were the words of Loco Solare’s Satsuki Fujisawa (33) after securing victory in the opening match of the second qualifying round at the Japan Curling Championships on February 6 at Yokohama BUNTAI, her face beaming with a bright smile.
In sports, certain birth-year groups are often labeled as golden generations—like the ’88 Handkerchief Generation in baseball or the 2000 Generation in table tennis, featuring Hina Hayata and Miu Hirano. In curling, that title undoubtedly belongs to the 1991 Generation, led by Fujisawa. Her teammates, Chinami Yoshida (33) and Yuko Suzuki (33), who won bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, were also born in 1991. Together, they have honed their skills through fierce competition, achieving remarkable success through what Fujisawa calls relentless effort
However, despite being strong contenders for the title, Loco Solare suffered a crushing defeat in the semifinals against Hokkaido Bank, ultimately finishing in third place.
Sports writer Soichiro Takeda, who has covered curling for over 15 years, analyzed the situation:
“Loco Solare’s performance wasn’t bad at all. Fujisawa’s genius shot-making was on full display. In the first qualifying round against Chubu Electric Power, during the fourth end, she pulled off a miraculous shot—placing the stone precisely in the center despite being at an overwhelming disadvantage with five opposing stones in play, securing a crucial point. The success rate of the other players’ shots was also high, meaning they weren’t necessarily in bad form. However, the level of competition has been rising rapidly. As Fujisawa herself said, ‘Winning in Japan is becoming harder than winning on the world stage.’ Japan is steadily becoming one of the world’s top curling nations.”
