Scotland's Mouat tops Switzerland's Schwaller to win world championship

Scotland’s Mouat tops Switzerland’s Schwaller to win world championship

Scotland’s Bruce Mouat captured his second BKT World Men’s Curling Championship gold medal in three years after defeating Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller 5-4 during Sunday’s final in Moose Jaw, Sask.

It was a grid of a finish this time around for Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr.

The team wrapped up round-robin play with an 8-4 record to earn the fifth seed for the playoffs and needed an 8-7 win over reigning world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden in the qualification round plus a 7-4 decision against Canada’s Brad Jacobs in the semifinals to reach the gold medal game.

Schwaller, playing in his first world championship final and looking for Switzerland’s first gold medal at the event in 33 years, went 9-3 through the pool to finish second. That gave Schwaller a bye to the semifinals where a 7-3 win over China’s Xiaoming Xu booked a spot in the final.

Scotland flipped the hammer fast, forcing Switzerland to a single in the first. Mouat blanked three consecutive ends, and his patience paid off as he made a double takeout to score two points in the fifth to grab a 2-1 advantage heading into the break.

Switzerland matched with a deuce in the sixth to retake the lead, but Scotland went up by one again with another deuce in the seventh. Schwaller’s fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel was forced to a high-pressure draw to the button while facing five counters in the eighth to tie it 4-4.

The nine-time Grand Slam champion Mouat, who is also ranked No. 1 in the world, blanked the ninth end to retain the hammer coming home and drew to the four-foot circle for the winning point.

Mouat won both of his gold medals on Canadian ice as he captured the 2023 title in Ottawa.

Schwaller, Schwarz-van Berkel, second Sven Michel and lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin took bronze during their previous trip to the podium in 2023.

Earlier Sunday, Jacobs downed Xu 11-2 in the bronze medal match.

Jacobs came out firing, scoring three in the first and five in the fourth end to put the game out of reach early.

Xu, who was forced to draw for a single against four Canadian stones in the third, came up short on his last in the fifth end to give up a steal of two and fall behind 10-1.

Canada, shooting 95 per cent as a unit, remained in complete control, limiting China to just another single in the sixth.

Jacobs added another point in the eighth to ice the game.

The Calgary-based club of Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert finished first in the round-robin with an 11-1 record. The team’s lone loss in pool play was also against Mouat.