A capsule look at the 13 teams set to compete at the world men’s curling championship

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This article was published 27/03/2025 (558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Brad Jacobs and his Alberta-based team will represent Canada at the BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship starting Saturday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

Here’s a capsule look at the 13 teams in the field (countries in alphabetical order, athletes from skip to lead):

AUSTRIA

Mathias Genner, Jonas Backofen, Martin Reichel, Florian Mavec

Austria is making its first world championship appearance since 2002. Genner competed at the Youth Olympic Games in 2012.

CANADA

Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert 

The host team earned the right to wear the Maple Leaf by winning the recent Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C. Canada hasn’t won gold at this event since Brad Gushue was victorious in 2017 at Edmonton.

CHINA

Xiaoming Xu, Xueqing Fei, Zhiyu Wang, Zhichao Li

Xu guided this team to an upset victory at the Pan Continental playdowns last fall in Lacombe, Alta. Gushue represented Canada but settled for a fourth-place finish.

CZECHIA

Lukas Klima, Marek Cernovsky, Martin Jurik, Lukas Klipa

This will be Klima’s fifth appearance at the men’s worlds. His best record was a 5-7 showing in 2022 at Las Vegas.

GERMANY

Marc Muskatewitz, Benjamin Kapp, Felix Messenzehl, Johannes Scheuerl

It has been a breakout season for the reigning European champions, who are now regulars on the top-flight Grand Slam of Curling circuit. 

ITALY

Joel Retornaz, Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman, Mattia Giovanella

This squad will be looking for a strong result as part of the buildup to the Winter Games in Milan/Cortina, Italy, where it will be the host team. Retornaz guided the squad to a bronze medal last year in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

JAPAN

Riku Yanagisawa, Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, Takeru Yamamoto, Satoshi Koizumi

It’s the second world championship appearance for this team, which finished seventh at the 2023 playdowns in Ottawa.

SOUTH KOREA

Hyojun Kim, Eunbin Kim, Jeongim Pyo, Jinhun Kim

Just two years removed from the world junior championship, all four players on this squad are in their early 20s. 

NORWAY

Magnus Ramsfjell, Martin Sesaker, Bendik Ramsfjell, Gaute Nepstad

Currently ranked 14th in the world, Ramsfjell won bronze at the European playdowns last year. 

SCOTLAND

Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan, 

The 2023 world champions have a comfortable lead on No. 2 Matt Dunstone of Manitoba in the world rankings. The Scots won silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. 

SWEDEN

Niklas Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wranaa, Christoffer Sundgren

The reigning Olympic and world champions have had a down season but are loaded with big-game experience. Edin is making his 14th career appearance at this competition. 

SWITZERLAND

Yannick Schwaller, Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel, Sven Michel, Pablo Lachat-Couchepin

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Schwaller plays third for this fourth-ranked team with Schwarz-Van Berkel throwing last rock. The Swiss side won bronze two years ago.

UNITED STATES 

Korey Dropkin, Tom Howell, Andrew Stopera, Mark Fenner

This is Dropkin’s third career appearance at the world championship. He finished fourth in 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2025.