Duluth's Chris Plys and Alaskan Vicky Persinger qualify for Olympics in mixed doubles curling

After winning the U.S. Olympic trials for mixed doubles curling, Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger knew their work was only half done. Thursday, they finished the job, winning their final game at the Olympic qualifying tournament to earn a berth at the Beijing Winter Games.

Plys, of Duluth, and Persinger, of Anchorage, Alaska, beat Russia 6-4 to complete an undefeated run through the qualifier in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. The top two teams at the qualifier received the last two berths in the 10-team Olympic mixed doubles tournament. Australia captured the other spot, rallying for a 6-5 victory over Korea to win the country's first Olympic berth in curling.

Plys already had qualified for the Beijing Olympics as a member of John Shuster's team, which won the Olympic trials for men's curling last month in Omaha. He will make his second appearance at the Olympics after serving as alternate for Shuster's team at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Persinger is a first-time Olympian.

"I'm sure that wasn't the most entertaining game,'' Plys said to worldcurling.org after Thursday's final. "We played a bit conservative. But we made shots when we had to.''

Persinger and Plys were the most consistent pair during the Olympic trials for mixed doubles, held at Eveleth's Curl Mesabi in October. They defeated Rich Ruohonen and Jamie Sinclair 7-6 in the final.

At the qualifier, which began Sunday, they went 6-0 during round-robin play to finish atop Group B and earn direct qualification to the final. Thursday against Russia, Persinger and Plys jumped to a 3-0 lead after two ends and never trailed.

The mixed doubles tournament in Beijing begins Feb. 2, two days before the Opening Ceremony, with medal matches on Feb. 8.