Canada takes sole possession of first place at 2025 BKT World Men’s Championship

Five days into the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, and there’s not much more Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs could ask for in terms of its results on the ice at the Temple Gardens Centre.

A 7-1 record has the Canadian team of Jacobs, vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Tyler Tardi, team coach Paul Webster and national coach Jeff Stoughton sitting alone at the top of the 13-team round-robin standings.

And while not all of those wins have been works of art — Wednesday night’s 8-3 triumph over the Czech Republic’s Team Lukas Klima (5-4) wasn’t always pretty, for instance — the team from Calgary’s Glencoe Club has consistently made the right shot at the right time when it has needed it most, which is the biggest factor in its leading spot in the standings.

“That’s just what you’ve got to do in these kind of tournaments where if things even out just a little bit, you still find a way,” said Jacobs, whose team is clear of a three-way tie for second place at 6-2 that includes China’s Team Xiaoming Xu, Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat and Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller. “Every team here is going to start to feel the fatigue a little bit from this point on. So, it’s really important to stay mentally strong, and get good rest between games. We’re doing that.

“We’ve got therapists here with us, chiro (Mike Caione), physio (Kim Richardson), who are working on us all the time. So, we’re doing all the right things to stay refreshed, and hopefully, playing this weekend.”

The Canadians found themselves without last rock in the first end for the second time on Wednesday, and it was a sign of things to come as some subtle differences in ice speed had the home team scratching its collective head at times over draw weight.

But Jacobs would fight through the doubts to make two wonderful draws that led directly to four stolen points.

In the first end, he made a draw behind cover to sit a pair and Klima, whose team has knocked off contenders Scotland and China already this week, was light on his last-rock draw.

The teams traded forced singles over the next four ends, putting Canada in a 4-2 lead at the fifth-end break.

In the sixth, Jacobs once again made a crucial draw behind cover to sit two, biting the pin. This time, Klima had to try a runback, which overcurled and handed another theft of two.

“Part of this is just managing the game so that he has a chance to win it for us,” said Kennedy. “Not getting him in too much trouble and still trying to learn and adapt to the ice. He’s been amazing. We gave him a few opportunities there. He’s been our leader the whole season. Hopefully, he can keep that going.”

Jacobs finished the game with a tough draw for a pair in the eighth, prompting the concession from the Czechs.

It was the second game of the day that ended after the eighth for Canada, which earlier took down Norway’s Team Magnus Ramsfjell by the same 8-3 margin.

“I think today was nice for us because we played two eight-end games,” said Jacobs, who’s skipping the collectively oldest team in the field. “You know, that could have been two extra-end games. We could have played six more ends today, but we didn’t. So, that’s good for our future in this event.”

“The whole week is mental toughness,” added Kennedy. “This is the hardest event I’ve ever played depth-wise with how good the teams are. That’s a team (Czech Republic) that beat Scotland pretty handily a couple days ago. There are no easy games. This is a mental and physical grind. I think I’m the oldest guy in the event (confirmed), so it’s even a bigger physical grind for me.

“And Benny, too,” said Kennedy with a chuckle. “He’s pretty old, but he’s hanging in there.”

Canada embarks on its final split-draw (morning, night) day on Thursday, taking on China at 9 a.m. (all times Central Standard) and then Switzerland at 7 p.m.

In other Wednesday night games, Switzerland was a 7-3 winner over Germany’s Team Marc Muskatewitz (4-5); Team Korey Dropkin of the United States (4-4) was a 9-6 victor over Japan’s Team Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi (3-6); and Austria’s Team Mathias Genner (1-8) hit the win column with an 11-4 triumph over South Korea’s Team Hyojun Kim (0-8).

China, Scotland, Norway (4-4), Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin (5-3), and Italy’s Team Joel Retornaz (3-5) had byes on Wednesday night.

Round-robin play runs through to Friday, with the top six teams making the playoffs; no tiebreakers will be played, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results, and if that doesn’t resolve the tie, then the pre-game Last-Shot Draw distances.

The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m., while third will play sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games earlier on Saturday, at 9 a.m.

The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play for gold on Sunday at 3 p.m., with the semifinal losers battling for bronze Sunday at 9 a.m.

The 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship continues with draws Thursday at 9 a.m. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times Central Standard).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, go to www.curling.ca/2025worldmen/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2025worldmen/nouvelles/?lang=fr.