Estonia's Olympic hopefuls build on historic silver

29 April 2025

At last year’s edition of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill made Estonian curling history, winning their country’s first-ever Olympic discipline medal, silver, behind winners Sweden.

But clearly, that achievement is not enough for this dedicated pair, who instead have used that success as a springboard for even more ambitious plans.

Reflecting on what has changed since their medal win, Marie said, “I think we have worked harder this season than we did last year. We’ve played more tournaments and won more tournaments.”

Harri agreed, “I think we’re better in every element than last year.”

However, despite their ambitions, Marie introduced a note of caution and realism, saying, “We may be stronger, but the field is stronger too than last year.”

Marie and Harri with their silver medals at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2024 © World Curling / Celine Stucki

In the build-up to last year’s triumph, Marie and Harri had made the strategic decision to forego team curling and concentrate solely on mixed doubles. Their logic in this decision was clear, as Marie said at the time.

“I think mixed doubles is the best shot at Olympic participation for a small country like ours. But you need two athletes who are dedicated to working hard enough.”

Now, having amassed the second-highest Olympic points total last year, and amid a good performance in this year’s event, Marie and Harri look set to garner enough points to gain direct Olympic qualification. Should that happen, they will be confirmed as Estonia’s representatives pretty quickly. Harri explained, “We have a points system for selection and, under that, for the Olympics it would be us.”

Team Estonia during day two of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2025 © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

If so… what’s next?

Harri said, “At the end of every season we discuss with our team and our coaches to see what we can do better. There are always things to develop. We’ve been quite stable results-wise — in a good way — which maybe we haven’t been in the past. Also, last year’s medal gave us some confidence too.”

Marie added, “For the next few months, I think it will be more of the same, but we can see where we can do better and stronger. We don’t need to do anything special, because we know that, right now, we are just about as good as we can be. There are chances to get better of course, but all the effort we’ve put in this season is quite high.”

Once their selection has been confirmed, Marie and Harri are looking forward to being part of the largest Estonia Winter Olympic team ever.

Harri explained, “The Estonia Olympic team will be one of the biggest in history… maybe 30 athletes, but we would be the only team sport.”

Marie added, “If we get there, we will be considered a big medal hope for Estonia — that’s what they say. But we know what we’re capable of doing and how well we can play. So, we’re putting more pressure on ourselves than the country is putting onto us. Curling is a small sport in Estonia so they will be happy that we’ve got to the Olympics, and if we were to get a medal — that’s a bonus.”

Thinking about the way forward until next year’s Games, Harri said, “A year ago, I thought there would be a lot more pressure but we feel less right now.

“Our good game right now is at the top level; but the standard here is so high, we just have to play our good game more often.”

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Estonia’s Olympic hopefuls build on historic silver

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