Kim Ji-yoon (; born July 2, 2002, in Uijeongbu) is a South Korean curler from Seoul. She currently skips the Seoul City Hall curling team. While playing mixed doubles with Jeong Byeong-jin, she participated in three World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships (, , ).
In 2020, Kim competed in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics with teammates Park Sang-woo, Park You-been and Moon Si-woo. In the mixed team competition, the team finished with a 3âÂÂ2 record, narrowly missing the playoffs following losses to Canada and Russia. The next week, she played in the mixed doubles event with Denmark's Jonathan Vilandt. The pair lost their first game and were eliminated in the round of 48.
During the 2020âÂÂ21 season, Kim and her mixed doubles partner Moon Si-woo finished third at the 2020 Korean Mixed Doubles Championship. Later in the season, the pair won the qualification event for the right to represent South Korea at the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. The duo, both eighteen at the time, defeated 2018 Olympian Jang Hye-ji and her partner Seong Yu-jin 2âÂÂ0 in the best-of-three series. At the World Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland, Kim and Moon finished ninth in their pool with a 3âÂÂ6 record, forcing them to play a relegation game to retain Korea's berth in the championship. Facing Japan's Yurika Yoshida and Yuta Matsumura, the Korean pair lost 8âÂÂ6, relegating Korea to the 2021 Qualification Event. At the 2021 Korean Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, which doubled as the Olympic Trials for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Kim and Moon finished in fourth place, failing to defend their spot as the national mixed doubles team.
At the conclusion of the 2021âÂÂ22 season, Kim moved from Gyeonggido to Seoul, forming a new mixed doubles team with Jeong Byeong-jin for the 2022âÂÂ23 season. At the 2022 Korean Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, the team won all four of their games to win the national title, defeating Kim Eun-bi and Yoo Min-hyeon 7âÂÂ5 in the championship game. This once again earned Kim a spot on the national team. On tour, she and Jeong won the Goldline Victoria Mixed Doubles, her first tour event victory. They also reached the final of the Walker Industries Mixed Doubles Spiel and the semifinals of the second Alberta Curling Series Doubles event. Despite their successes throughout the season, they could not continue their impressive performance at the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, finishing 2âÂÂ7 in the round robin. This forced them into a relegation playoff where they defeated Austria 8âÂÂ6 to maintain Korea's position in the championship.
For the 2023âÂÂ24 season, Kim joined the Seoul City Hall women's team, however, they failed to qualify at the 2023 Korean Curling Championships. This drought continued into the 2023 Korean Mixed Doubles Curling Championship where she and Jeong lost two of their first three games. After this, however, the pair turned things around, winning their next five games to finish first in their pool and qualify for the playoffs. Once there, they won both the semifinal and final series' 2âÂÂ0 and 2âÂÂ1 respectively to defend their title as national champions. On tour that season, they reached two semifinals and one quarterfinal against stacked fields at Super Series events, boosting their world ranking to nineteenth. In April, Kim had her best showing at the 2024 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, finishing 5âÂÂ4 and just missing the playoffs.
Kim is originally from Gyeonggi Province but moved to Seoul in 2022. She previously attended Hoeryong Middle School and Songhyun High School.