World Men’s Curling Championship playoff preview: Who will win gold?
The playoff picture is now set and we’re down to the final six in the World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask.
China’s Xiaoming Xu plays Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell and Scotland’s Bruce Mouat meets Sweden’s Niklas Edin in Saturday morning’s qualification round.
Top-seeded Canada’s Brad Jacobs and Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller await the winners after receiving byes to the semifinals.
Both medal games are on tap Sunday.
Here’s a look at the teams and matchups.
Semifinal bye: [1] Canada
Canada has been in cruise control finishing at the top of the table with a 9-1 record.
The team’s lone loss came Monday with a 6-5 extra-end defeat against Scotland. Canada got back on track and won eight straight games heading into the semis.
The team leads the field with a 91.9 per cent shooting average and has outscored its opponents 90-42, a plus-48 advantage. By comparison, China is second at plus-19.
Canada has also scored two or more points a tournament-leading 30 times while conceding steals only twice (once each to Sweden and Scotland). They also hold an 88 per cent force efficiency, giving up two or more points only four times.
Jacobs has been on fire and leads all skips shooting 92.7 per cent — six points higher than second-place Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel of Switzerland.
“Everything is firing on all cylinders right now,” Jacobs told reporters following his team’s 8-3 win over the United States on Friday. “Eight games in a row, winning streak, that’s great. The good news is we only have two more because that’s all I’ve got left in me right now, I’ll tell you that.”
The Calgary-based club, ranked third in the world, has dialled it up a notch in recent months having reached back-to-back Grand Slam of Curling finals at the KIOTI National and WFG Masters and losing just one game en route to capturing the Montana’s Brier.
Jacobs, who earned silver in his previous worlds appearance in 2013, is looking to win Canada’s first gold medal at the event since 2017.
Canada will start the semifinals with the hammer and have choice of stones — key advantages against whomever they face.
Semifinal bye: [2] Switzerland
While the Swiss women’s teams have won multiple world championships in recent times, it’s been 33 years since a Swiss men’s teams has accomplished the feat. Schwaller is aiming to end that drought.
Switzerland (9-3) is tied with Scotland for third in team shooting at 87.9 per cent through the week.
The key will be Schwarz-van Berkel, who is second among all fourth with an 86.7 per cent average.
Schwaller earned bronze at the worlds in 2023 but missed the podium and the playoffs last year after posting a 6-6 round-robin record.
Ranked fourth in the world, Schwaller was out of the lineup following the European Championships in November after undergoing knee surgery but was back on the ice in early January and hasn’t miss a beat.
Schwaller should have the edge to start the semifinals with hammer and choice of stones. Also a confidence boost: Switzerland defeated both potential semifinal opponents during pool play, winning 7-5 over China and 7-4 over Norway.
Qualification Round: [4] Sweden vs. [5] Scotland
The past two world champions square off with elimination on the line.
Edin downed Mouat 10-4 Thursday thanks to a huge score of four in the third followed by a steal of two in the fourth. Edin added a three-count in the sixth end that brought out the handshakes early.
Expect the world No. 1 Mouat, who shot 69 per cent in that game, to come out sharper for the qualification stage although he will also have to bounce back from a disappointing 9-2 loss to China.
Scotland (8-4) could have finished as high as second in the standings and earned the bye, however, the team needed to beat China and have Switzerland lose to South Korea during Friday night’s round-robin finale. Neither scenario played out though and Scotland dropped to the No. 5 seed.
Edin (8-4) has had a down year by his standards sitting 13th in the world rankings, but the reigning world champion and record seven-time gold medallist can never be counted out. Sweden’s front-end has shined as second Rasmus Wranå (90.3 per cent) and lead Christoffer Sundgren (94.0 per cent) are first and second, respectively, at their positions.
The two skips have met 40 times during their career with Edin holding a slim advantage at 21-19. Edin has won their past two encounters but before that, Mouat won eight straight including the 2023 European Championships final.
Their most famous matchup came on curling’s biggest stage in the 2022 Olympic final as Edin edged Mouat 5-4 in an extra win to win the gold medal. Just two months later, they faced off in the Players’ Championship final with Mouat coming out on top 8-3.
Whichever team emerges victorious, hopefully for their sake they save enough in the tank for the semifinals against Canada.
Qualification Round: [3] China vs. [6] Norway
Don’t underestimate China (8-3) as the team earned the No. 3 spot thanks to a superior head-to-head record over Sweden and Scotland, defeating both teams in round-robin play.
The team also earned a victory over Norway. Xu scored three in the second, two in the fourth and added singles from there to fend off Ramsfjell 8-6. China will try to replicate that game plan as they start with the hammer here again.
The lowest-ranked team in the playoffs at 23rd in the world, Xu has already earned one gold medal in Canada this season after winning the Pan Continental Curling Championships in November in Lacombe, Alta. The team now looks to capture China’s first medal period in the World Men’s Curling Championship.
Ramsfjell, No. 15 in the world rankings, earned bronze at the European Championships in November.
Thievery has been key for Norway (7-5) this week with a tournament-leading 13 stolen ends.