Can Koe bring home the gold at world championship?
Kevin Koe and his Calgary-based crew made it through quite possibly the toughest Tim Hortons Brier field ever and now it’s time to take on the world.
Koe, third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing, and lead Ben Hebert are set to represent Canada at the world men’s curling championship, starting Saturday in Basel, Switzerland.
Team Koe should be considered the favourites as the top-ranked rink on the World Curling Tour’s year-to-date order of merit. They’ve been hot right out of the gate winning the Pinty’s GSOC Tour Challenge Tier 1 title in September and continued the momentum earning the Canada Cup in December against another stacked field of teams.
They’ve been down this road before with all four members having won at the world stage: Koe captured the gold in 2010, Hebert and Kennedy were victorious in 2008 with Kevin Martin, and Laing earned the title in 2007 and 2012 with Glenn Howard. Laing’s second win coincidentally took place in Basel and is the most recent time Canada has claimed the gold medal.
Now the challenge for them is to win one all together.
Without putting too much pressure on Team Koe, here are five other teams to keep an eye on:
– Sweden: Niklas Edin and his team are back to defend their title. They’re ranked 8th on the year-to-date OOM and offer the biggest hurdle for Team Koe. Edin also won the world championship in 2013.
– Norway: Thomas Ulsrud represents Norway at the worlds for a 12th time in his career. The team won the title in 2014 and settled for silver a year ago. Currently ranked 17th in the world, the 44-year-old Ulsrud is not showing any signs of slowing down.
– U.S.A.: John Shuster looks to improve upon last year’s finish in the tiebreakers (and out of the playoffs). His team is ranked 12th on the year-to-date OOM and have won three events on tour this season.
– Scotland: Tom Brewster has represented Scotland at the worlds four previous times winning two silver and two bronze medals. Can he maintain his perfect medal streak and go for gold?
– Switzerland: Sven Michel will have home-ice advantage and he’s going to need it to get past the teams listed above. While compatriot Binia Feltscher took the world women’s title, can Michel make it a double win for the Swiss?