OTTAWA — A capsule look at the 13 teams competing in the April 1-9 world men’s curling championship at TD Place.
Teams listed in alphabetical order, athletes from skip to lead.
CANADA
Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, E.J. Harnden, Geoff Walker
Gushue guided the St. John’s, N.L.-based team to a world title in 2017 but settled for silver in two subsequent appearances. Harnden’s brother, Ryan, has joined the team as an alternate.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Lukas Klima, Marek Cernovsky, Radek Bohac, Martin Jurik
The Czechs finished with a 5-7 record at last year’s worlds in Las Vegas. Canada’s Craig Savill – who won two world titles as a player with skip Glenn Howard – is serving as coach.
GERMANY
Sixten Totzek, Klaudius Harsch, Magnus Sutor, Dominik Greindl
Totzek is making his third world men’s championship appearance. The 23-year-old skip also played at the world juniors on three occasions.
ITALY
Joel Retornaz, Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman, Mattia Giovanella
Retornaz has risen to third in the world rankings after earning his first Grand Slam title last December. Vice Amos Mosaner won mixed doubles gold at the Beijing Olympics.
JAPAN
Riku Yanagisawa, Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, Takeru Yamamoto, Satoshi Koizumi
Yanagisawa leads a new rink that’s making its world men’s championship debut as a foursome. Yamaguchi is making his seventh career appearance at this event.
SOUTH KOREA
Byeongjin Jeong, Jeongjae Lee, Minwoo Kim, Taehwan Kim
Jeong’s lone appearance at the men’s worlds came in 2019 at Lethbridge, Alta., on a team that went 1-11.
NEW ZEALAND
Anton Hood, Ben Smith, Brett Sargon, Hunter Walker
This country is making its first appearance at this event since 2012. New Zealand qualified via the inaugural Pan Continental Championships last November in Calgary.
NORWAY
Magnus Ramsfjell, Martin Sesaker, Bendik Ramsfjell, Gaute Nepstad
Ramsjfell is just outside the top 10 in the men’s world rankings at No. 11. He won a World University Games title in 2019.
SCOTLAND
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan
One of the best young teams in the world, Mouat guided this rink to Olympic silver last year in Beijing. He won world silver in 2021 and took bronze in 2018.
SWEDEN
Niklas Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana, Christoffer Sundgren
Edin is coming off an incredible campaign that included Olympic and world gold. His team is ranked No. 1 in the world with a 67-14 record this season.
SWITZERLAND
Yannick Schwaller, Benoit Schwarz, Sven Michel, Pablo Lachat
Michel, a two-time world mixed doubles champion, is joined by Schwaller at skip in a lineup that has Schwarz throwing fourth stones and Lachat at lead.
TURKEY
Ugurcan Karagoz, Muhammet Haydar Demirel, Muhammed Zeki Ucan, Orhun Yuce
Turkey is making its world men’s curling debut at this event.
UNITED STATES
John Shuster, Chris Plys, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner
Shuster leads an experienced American team that won Olympic gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023.
Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
