A new champion will emerge at this year’s World Men’s Curling Championships. And Canada’s Brad Gushew has a chance to reach the top of the podium.
Gushue beat four-time defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden 9-1 on Saturday, before beating Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller 7-5 in the semi-finals to qualify for the title game.
“I think it was our best game of the week as a team,” said Guchuu. “But we struggled this week and I think we were pretty lucky to get to the final.
“We have to go out and play like we did today.”
Gushue takes on Scotland’s Bruce Muat to win the gold medal. Mouat had his 9-8 victory over Italy’s Joel Retornaz in another semi-final, extra in his end where he pulled the four-foot ring.
The Canadian has been mediocre at times during round-robin play, but seems to peak at the right time.
On Friday night, Gushue picked up where he left off against Sweden by defeating Edin to secure the hammer in the qualifying game.
“It certainly came out a little more lopsided than we expected today,” Gushue said. I think I was feeling
“It gave us some opportunities.”
Bolstered by a vibrant partisan crowd at TD Place, Gushue and teammates Mark Nichols, EJ Harnden and Geoff Walker put up a strong performance against a confident Swiss side.
The teams traded singles in the end of the sixth until Gushue hit a deuce in the seventh. Benoit Schwarz in her fourth for Switzerland answered in pairs and Canada blanked her ninth end.
After a hammer draw, Gushue made a short raise, forcing Schwarz to pull inside the 4-foot shot stone. The Swiss rock was heavy and gave Canada the win.
“I was playing really well, but I just couldn’t seem to pull away,” Gushue said. “But we came out victorious.”
Switzerland bid farewell to the last four after leading a field of 13 teams 11-1 in the round-robin. Canada was seeded her fourth with her 9-3.
Scotland qualified for another direct semi-final as the second seed. Italy has beaten Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjer 8-4 in his other qualifying game.
Gushue scored twice in the opening end against Edin, forcing him to one and blanking two ends before committing an error in the fifth.
The St. John’s, NL skip caught stone thick on a blank attempt to push the lead to 3–1. Sweden hit his 3-pointer in the sixth end, but Edin scraped his own stone and gave up the steal.
A desperate run-back triple in the 7th went wide, giving Gushue three more stolen points.
“The energy of the crowd continues today, and I think the two-point start in the first end has released a little bit,” Gushue said.
Edin, the reigning Olympic champion, has won six world men’s titles in his career. He defeated Gushue in last year’s final in Las Vegas.
“Can’t be too disappointed,” said Edin. “We’ve had some really good years, many years actually.”
Italy and Switzerland will battle for the bronze medal on Sunday morning. The final is scheduled for the afternoon.
Gushue has settled for silver in his last two appearances at the competition. The 2006 Olympic champion won his only world title in Edmonton in 2017.
Kelly Einarson skipped Canada to win the bronze medal at the World Women’s Curling Championships in Sandviken, Sweden last month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 8, 2023.
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