China top table after day four

With two wins in the fourth day of round-robin play, China have moved to the top of the rankings at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship 2025.

They followed an 8-6 win over Norway with an 8-7 victory over Austria in Tuesday night’s session.

In the first of their games, China had to resist a charge by Norway’s skip Magnus Ramsfjell in the ninth end, when he played a draw to score two points and reduce the China lead to 7-6. After this, China went on to win by 8-6.

Later, they faced Austria in a close game. China held a 6-3 lead by the eighth end but Austria skip Mathias Genner played a skilful nose-hit to score three and level the points. Following this, China went on to win 8-7. After that win, China skip Xu Xiaoming said, “Although we’re 6-1, we still need to keep trying for the rest of the programme.”

Team Austria © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Canada keep confident

Behind China, Canada and Scotland each sit on five wins and one loss.

In Tuesday’s play, Canada beat defending champions Sweden by 8-6 before returning to the ice to defeat Italy by 4-2.

Unsurprisingly, the game against Sweden was tight throughout and Canada led by 7-6 as the teams played the tenth end. In that end, Canadian skip Brad Jacobs took out two stones to score the point that gave his team the win.

Afterwards, Jacobs said, “Playing against a great team like Niklas, that was a really important win for us.

“We were able to manage the board well and keep scoring in the even ends. Our whole team is really confident in our ability to defend.”

Team Canada © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Focus is key for Scotland

Scotland, meanwhile, beat Italy by 9-7 in their only game on Tuesday. After this win, Scotland skip Bruce Mouat still had his surprise loss to Czechia on his mind as he said, “Last night we were really disappointed with ourselves, not bouncing back after a really good game against Canada. So, reset for today.

“We’ve got some tough games coming up over the next couple of days, so we’re just going to have to re-focus and make sure we’re ready.”

Behind the top three, three more teams are tied on four wins and two losses — Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

The Norwegians lost out by 6-8 to China in their only game on Tuesday, while Sweden had an up and down day, losing by 6-8 to Canada before beating Switzerland by 6-4.

After his win over Switzerland, Swedish skip Niklas Edin said, “Overall, we played two good solid games. We’re happy with the whole team’s performance.

“Often, we lose early, but I feel we’re coming into form now.”

Team Sweden’s Christoffer Sundgren © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

United States know what’s ahead

Behind these teams, United States sit on three wins and three losses and achieved a 7-1 win over Austria in their only game on Tuesday. After this, skip Korey Dropkin said, “It’s nice to start today off with a win.

“It’s good having [alternate] Chris Plys with us, who’s reminding us about just how long a week it is and that we might drop a game that we would prefer not to, like we did yesterday. As long as we keep on making the precision shots, we’re in good shape.”

Germany sit just behind the Americans on three wins and four losses. Meanwhile, at the foot of the table, Japan sits on two wins and five losses, and Korea and Austria still seek their first wins.

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