13 teams to play for 2026 LGT World Men’s title in Ogden, Utah

With the medals at the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship 2026 in Calgary, Canada awarded, the international curling focus now quickly moves across the border. On Friday 27 March, the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship 2026 is set to get underway at the historic Weber County Ice Sheet in Ogden City, Utah.

This was the same venue used for the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games and altogether thirteen of the world’s top men’s teams will compete. The last time the world men’s championship was hosted in the United States was in 2022, in Las Vegas.

The men’s world championship started as the Scotch Cup in 1959 and the first three editions were contested between just Canada and Scotland.

Xu Xiaoming, China at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship 2025 © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

TEAMS

The teams taking part this year have qualified through three different routes — as hosts, or through performances at the U.S. Steel Pan Continental Curling Championships 2025 or the Le Gruyere AOP European Curling Championships 2025.

Qualified as hosts: United States

Qualified from the Pan Continental Curling Championships (in qualification order): Canada, Japan, China and Korea

Qualified from the European Championships (in qualification order): Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Czechia, Poland and Norway.

Canada: skipped by Matthew Dunstone, this team is making its first appearance at this level

China: skipped by Xu Xiaoming, who is making a ninth world championship appearance, this team finished tenth at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games

Czechia: skipped by Lukas Klima, who is making a sixth world championship appearance, this team finished eighth at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games

Germany: skipped by Marc Muskatewitz, who is making an eighth world championships appearance, this team finished seventh at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games

Italy: skipped by 2025 World Junior champion Stefano Spiller, who leads an experienced team, including former Olympic mixed doubles champion Amos Mosaner

Japan: skipped by Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi, who plays third stones and is making a ninth appearance

Korea: skipped by Kim Soo-Hyuk, who is making a sixth appearance

Norway: skipped by Andreas Haarstad, who returns for a second appearance with a new team

Poland: skipped by Konrad Stych, this is a first appearance at this level by a team representing the Polish Curling Clubs Federation

Scotland: skipped by Ross Whyte, this is a first appearance at this level by this team

Sweden: skipped by seven-time world champion Niklas Edin, who is making his 15th appearance, this team were 2022 Olympic champions and have been world champions together six times

Switzerland: skipped by Marco Hoesli, who plays third stones, this is a first appearance at this level by this team

United States: skipped by 2018 Olympic champion John Shuster, who is making a twelfth appearance at this level.

Lukas Klipa and Martin Jurik, Czechia at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship 2025 © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

COMPETITION FORMAT

The first of twenty round-robin sessions will begin at 13:30 on Friday 27 March, with the final round-robin session starting at 19:00 on Thursday 2 April.

After this, the top two ranked teams progress automatically to the semi-finals, while the next four teams will play qualification games. The two winners of these games will go onto the semi-finals.

The two qualification games will take place at 09:00 on Friday 3 April, with the semi-finals being staged later that day at 15:00.

The Bronze Medal game will take place at 09:00 on Saturday 4 April, and the Gold Medal final will follow at 14:00.

Find the full playing schedule here.

HOW TO WATCH

All games will be available to watch live on the Curling Channel, with select feature games. Please note, there may be restrictions due to broadcast partner agreements.

Find all information about the available Curling Channel passes and how to purchase here.

Follow live scores and results here.

All times are Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) -6.

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