Ida Valley’s Jed Nevill had the honour of being a flag bearer at the Winter Youth Olympic Games opening ceremony in South Korea on Friday, January 19. 

Together with snowboard slopestyle junior world champion Lucia Georgalli (16), of Wānaka, Jed (17) was named at a team function by Chef de Mission Marty Toomey on the day of the ceremony. 

Marty said Jed and Lucia are passionate and dedicated young athletes whose actions epitomise the  team’s values.

Wānaka’s Lucia and Jed from the Ida Valley with their NZ flags. PHOTO: Supplied 

The team of four young curlers, who each hail from Otago, are skipped by Jed, and coached by Patearoa’s Bridget Becker.

Bridget said the four curlers have been putting in the hard yards on the ice.

"They're ready to show the world what they are made of."

Jed said he was finding the Olympics environment “awesome” and they had been eating lots of kimchi - a traditional Korean side dish consisting of salted and fermented vegetables.

“Playing rugby out on the fields with all the other countries has been great,” Jed said.

The curling events span the full 13 days of the competition. The mixed teams event is ongoing with the 16 nations competing in two pools. 

NZ is in pool A with Sweden, USA, China, Nigeria, Japan, Norway and Turkey. The top three sides will qualify for the playoff rounds.

Results for the Kiwis so far have been mixed; they lost to Sweden, USA, China and Japan, but beat Nigeria by 12 -1.

Next they face Norway on Tuesday at 6pm (NZ time) and Turkey on Wednesday at 1pm.  

Maniototo’s Jack Steele on the ice in the game against Nigeria. PHOTO: Supplied 

The mixed doubles competition will follow, with Maniototo’s Olivia and Jed taking part in the 24-nation event.

They will play Brazil, Turkey, Latvia, Japan and China in their pool, with the top two sides progressing to the quarter-finals.

The NZ team for Gangwon 2024 is made up of 22 athletes, all aged between 14-18.

The Kiwi athletes will compete across five winter sports; luge, figure skating, alpine and freestyle skiing, and snowboard disciplines. The games run from January 19 to February 1 in Gangwon province.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games is run by the International Olympic Committee and will be the fourth Winter Youth Games, following those in Innsbruck in 2012, Lillehammer in 2016 and Lausanne 2020.

The Games provide a development opportunity for the world's most promising young winter athletes, allowing them to experience a multi-sport games environment while exposing them to learning and cultural opportunities. Almost 2000 athletes will compete at the games.

Gangwon 2024 is using many of the existing venues from the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

The aim is to ensure a cost efficient and sustainable Youth Olympic Games, while at the same time providing young athletes the opportunity to compete in some of the same sites as Olympians did a few years ago.

Find information on the NZ youth curlers schedule and results here.

A selection of games are live-streamed from Gangwon 2024 here.