2025 World Men's Curling Championship

The 2025 World Men's Curling Championship (66th) (branded as the 2025 BKT Tires World Men's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from March 29 to April 6 at Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was the fourth World Men's Championship held in Saskatchewan and the third World Championship held in Moose Jaw, succeeding the 1979 World Junior Curling Championships and the 1983 Pioneer Life World Women's Curling Championship. This event was the last men's event to earn Qualification Points for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The format for the Championship featured a thirteen team round robin. The top six teams qualified for the playoff round where the top two teams received a bye while the remaining four played in the qualification round to qualify for the semifinals.

Summary

Prior to the event, there was concern the US national team would get booed by the home Canadian fans due to ongoing political tensions between the two countries, which had resulted in the US anthem getting booed in other sports. However, it was reported that "not a single boo could be heard" during the ''Star-Spangled Banner'' when it was played ahead of the March 30 draw. When Canada played the US on the evening of April 4, some boos could be heard when the US team were introduced. Before the game, Canada skip Brad Jacobs stated "I'm like everyone else. I don't like hearing some of this stuff south of the border, calling Canada the 51st state".

In Draw 14, Austria (skipped by Mathias Genner) won its first game at the World Men's Championship since , when they beat the also-winless South Koreans, 11–4.

Following an April 3 evening win against Switzerland, Canada, skipped by Brad Jacobs became the first team to clinch a playoff berth. Canada clinched first place in the round robin after defeating Austria in the afternoon of April 4. Scotland, skipped by Bruce Mouat secured a playoff spot in their April 4 morning game against Germany. Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and China secured their spots in the afternoon draw, while the ranking of the six team was determined after the final evening draw. Switzerland, skipped by Yannick Schwaller got the second seed, and earned a bye to the semifinals along with Canada. In the quarters, number three China would go on to face number six Norway, while Scotland would play Sweden in the other quarterfinal.

Controversy arose after Chinese curler Li Zhichao was caught allegedly cheating in their quarterfinal game against Norway. On a stone delivered by China skip Xu Xiaoming, Li was seen to have "swung his brush handle" against the rock, altering its trajectory, just before it was about to hit a guard, causing the rock to "jump". After a technical timeout, the Norwegian team decided to let the matter go, and did not file a complaint. The event was not an isolated incident, as China had been accused of kicking a stone in their round robin game against Germany, which may have resulted in a loss of a potential point for the Germans. China went on to win the quarterfinal match, 8–7, while Scotland beat Sweden in the other quarter, also 8–7.

In the semifinals, the number one ranked Canadian team were upset by the Scots, 7–4, while Switzerland easily beat China 7–3. In the Canada–Scotland game, Team Canada skip Brad Jacobs was forced to try an angle-raise triple-takeout on his last shot in an attempt to win, but missed, giving up a steal of two.

With their semifinal losses, Canada and China faced off against each other in the bronze medal game. In the match, Canada was aggressive from the get-go. Canada skip Brad Jacobs made a split to sit two after his first, while China skip Xu Xiaoming flashed on his takeout attempt. Jacobs then drew for a third point, to take the early lead. After the second end was blanked, Canada continued the pressure in the third, forcing Xu to take a single by making a draw against four Canadian stones. China missed an in-off in the fifth, leading to a Jacobs hit for five to take a commanding 8–1 lead. Canada did not look back from there, finishing the game by winning 11–2.

With their semifinal wins, Scotland took on Switzerland in the gold medal final. In the first end, Switzerland was forced to a single to go up 1–0. After three blanked ends, Scotland took the lead scoring two in the fifth after Mouat made a double takeout. In the sixth, Scottish skip Bruce Mouat just missed a triple takeout on his first, which eventually resulted in a deuce for Switzerland, after Swiss fourth-thrower Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel took out a Scottish stone. With the Swiss now up 3–2, Mouat made tight angle tap in the seventh to score two and take the lead back, putting the score at 4–3. In the eighth end, Swiss third-thrower Yannick Schwaller missed a hit on his first, which eventually resulted in a force of one for the Swiss to tie the game when Schwarz-van Berkel drew for a single. Scotland blanked the ninth to give themselves the hammer in the final end. On his final shot, Mouat drew to the button for the championship, winning the game 5–4. The win was the second gold medal for Bruce Mouat and his team, and the seventh gold for Scotland.

Due to their final placements, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain (represented by Scotland), Norway, Sweden and Switzerland all qualified for the Men's curling event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Italy also qualified as the host country.

Qualification

Thirteen curling federations qualified to participate in the 2025 World Men's Curling Championship. Of note, Austria qualified for the first time since , while China returned for the first time since .

Teams

The teams are as follows:

WCF ranking

Year-to-date World Curling Federation ranking for each team prior to the event.

Round robin standings

''Final Round Robin Standings''

Round robin results

All draw times are listed in Central Standard Time ( UTC−06:00).

Draw 1

''Saturday, March 29, 2:00 pm''

Draw 2

''Saturday, March 29, 7:00 pm''

Draw 3

''Sunday, March 30, 9:00 am''

Draw 4

''Sunday, March 30, 2:00 pm''

Draw 5

''Sunday, March 30, 7:00 pm''

Draw 6

''Monday, March 31, 9:00 am''

Draw 7

''Monday, March 31, 2:00 pm''

Draw 8

''Monday, March 31, 7:00 pm''

Draw 9

''Tuesday, April 1, 9:00 am''

Draw 10

''Tuesday, April 1, 2:00 pm''

Draw 11

''Tuesday, April 1, 7:00 pm''

Draw 12

''Wednesday, April 2, 9:00 am''

Draw 13

''Wednesday, April 2, 2:00 pm''

Draw 14

''Wednesday, April 2, 7:00 pm''

Draw 15

''Thursday, April 3, 9:00 am''

Draw 16

''Thursday, April 3, 2:00 pm''

Draw 17

''Thursday, April 3, 7:00 pm''

Draw 18

''Friday, April 4, 9:00 am''

Draw 19

''Friday, April 4, 2:00 pm''

Draw 20

''Friday, April 4, 7:00 pm''

Playoffs

Qualification Games

''Saturday, April 5, 9:00 am''

Semifinals

''Saturday, April 5, 3:00 pm''

Bronze medal game

''Sunday, April 6, 9:00 am''

Final

''Sunday, April 6, 3:00 pm''

Statistics

Player percentages

''Final Round Robin Percentages''

Perfect games

''Minimum 10 shots thrown''

Awards

The awards and all-star team are as follows:

All-Star Team
*Fourth: Brad Jacobs, Canada
*Third: Marc Kennedy, Canada
*Second: Rasmus Wranå, Sweden
*Lead: Ben Hebert, Canada

Collie Campbell Memorial Award
* Martin Sesaker, Norway

Final standings

National playdowns

* 2025 Montana's Brier
* 2025 Japan Curling Championships
* 2024 Korean Curling Championships
* 2025 United States Men's Curling Championship

Notes

References

External links

*

{{World championships in 2025

World Men's Curling Championship
World Men's Curling
Curling competitions in Moose Jaw
2025 in Canadian curling
World Men's Championship
World Men's Championship
International curling competitions hosted by Canada