The Philippines competed at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, from 7 to 14 February.[1][2][3] The curling event began on 4 February, ahead of the opening ceremony.[4] There were 19 competing athletes for the country in five sports. The Filipino flagbearers for the opening ceremony were Kathleen Dubberstein (curling) and Peter Groseclose (speedskating)
Their best performance was in men's curling, where they won the first ever Asian Winter Games medal for the nation, after beating South Korea in the gold medal final.[5][6]
Background
The Philippines are among the tropical nations competing at the 2025 Asian Winter Games.[7][8] They debuted at the games in 1990 with alpine skier Michael Teruel.[9]
Richard Lim of Karate Pilipinas leads the delegation.[10][11] The team was supposed to consist of 20 athletes competing in six sports, but the sole snowboarder got injured reducing the delegation to 19 athletes and five sports.[12]
In this edition, the Philippines won their first ever Winter Asian Games medal on 14 February – a gold in the curling men's team tournament.[8][15] It is also the first gold medal ever for a Southeast Asian nation.[16] However this is not the first medal from Southeast Asia, that distinction belongs to freeskierPaul Vieuxtemps of Thailand who won a bronze on 11 February.[17]
The following table lists the Filipino delegation per sport and gender.[9][18] A male snowboarder was also originally included but withdrew due to an injury.
Tallulah Proulx finished 16th overall after her two runs in the women's slalom.[20] Francis Ceccarelli got disqualified in the first run after he went out of the slalom line while trying to speed down.[21]
The Philippines entered all three events: mixed doubles, men's and women's teams. Ten curlers represented the country.[22] This marks the first time that curlers have competed for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, with the national federation Curling Pilipinas only being formed in 2023.[23][24]
The Philippines entered a men's team which is skipped by Marc Pfister.[25]
They lost their opening game to South Korea in the round round robin phase. They won over their other group opposition: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei.
They advanced to the playoff, defeating Japan and host China in the qualification game and semifinal, respectively.[26] In the gold medal match, the Philippines won 5-3 over South Korea. The Koreans took the final shot and were attempting to dislodge one of the yellow stones in a bid to score two points to win the gold but failed.[27] This is the first ever Winter Asian Games medal for the Philippines.[26]
The Philippines entered a mixed doubles pair consisting of Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein. Prior to this tournament, the two have played mixed doubles together for six or seven times.[25] They started their campaign with an upset of world rank no. 13 South Korea.[7][29] With wins over Kyrgyzstan and Qatar and despite a loss to China, the Philippines was assured a spot in the qualification play-off.[30] They lost to Japan in the semifinal, and their rematch against China in the bronze medal game ended in a close defeat to finish fourth.[31][32]
The Philippines' is represented by individual skaters Paolo Borromeo, Sofia Frank, and Cathryn Limketkai. Pair skaters Isabella Gamez and Aleksandr Korovin will also compete. Russian-born Korovin received Filipino citizenship in 2024 allowing him to compete in the Asian Winter Games.[9]
Philippine Skating Union president Nikki Cheng project at least a bronze medal for the pair of Gamez and Korovin.[33]The pair finished fourth in the short program.[34] They still finished fourth in both the free skate and overall missing a place on the podium.[35]
For the individual skaters, Borromeo finished 10th, Frank ended 11th and Limketkai was 9th place overall.[36]
Laetaz Rabe recorded a 56.0 point finish in the slopestyle and provisionally placed fifth. She tried different moves for her next two runs but registered a "did not improve" for both, relegating her to 6th place.[37] She also placed sixth in the big air.[38]
↑ "Philippines – Entries". Web Results System for the 9th Harbin Asian Winter Games 2025. Organising Committee for the 9th Harbin Asian Winter Games 2025. Archived from the original on 2 February 2025. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
↑ "Philippines – Schedule". Web Results System for the 9th Harbin Asian Winter Games 2025. Organising Committee for the 9th Harbin Asian Winter Games 2025. Archived from the original on 20 February 2025.
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