OGDEN, Utah — Sweden’s Niklas Edin is once again at the top of the curling world.
Edin and his rink of third Oskar Eriksson, second Rasmus Wranaa and lead Christopher Sundgren took a 9-6 victory over Canada’s Matt Dunstone, third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden in the gold medal game at the World Men’s Curling Championship on Saturday afternoon.
It was a run of redemption for Edin and crew after they posted a 2-7 record at the Olympic Games and finished well out of medal contention. This time around, they posted a 10-2 round robin record to finish first in the round robin and then took an 8-6 win over the United States’ John Shuster in the semifinal.
Thanks to his first place finish in the preliminary round, Edin had the hammer in the first end. Dunstone failed to remove a Scotland counter on a hit and roll with his final shot, leaving Edin a simple double takeout for a pair. He’d make it, and Scotland had the early 2-0 lead.
Dunstone faced three Sweden rocks at the back of an open house with his final rock of the second end, and his hit-and-stick would stop in the eight-foot for one.
Canada avoided a disaster end in the third when Dunstone made a double take-out facing three Sweden counters with his final shot, but that left Edin with an open draw for the deuce, and he’d make it for a 4-1 lead.
Both skips made double take-outs with their first rocks in the fourth end, leaving Dunstone with an open hit and roll out for the blank.
There were far more rocks in play in the fifth end, with Edin attempting to double guard his counter on the button and Canada laying second and third shot. He wouldn’t quite curl enough, leaving Dunstone a double raise takeout to score a pair, and he’d make no mistake, getting two to make it a 4-3 contest at the break.
A double on two Canada stones in the four foot by Edin left Sweden laying two, one in the 12 foot and another across the house biting the edge of the rings. Dunstone took out one with his last rock, leaving Edin a hit for two that he’d make without difficulty, taking a 6-3 lead.
Edin sat two top four foot with a Canada rock just in front to close out the seventh, and Dunstone would make a nice runback double to score his pair and get back within one.
Dunstone attempted to hit and roll in to the four food with his last rock of the eighth, but wouldn’t roll enough, leaving Sweden sitting shot rock in the four foot. Edin made a great draw for a pair, and Sweden had an 8-5 lead with two ends to play.
Edin didn’t make things easy on Canada in the ninth end, leaving Dunstone needing to draw half of the button to get a single point. Some hard work by the front end got it there, and Canada went into the final end down by a pair.
Sweden played the end like one would expect world champions to play, and after Dunstone flashed on an angle raise takeout with his final shot, the championship was theirs.
It’s the eighth world championship in Edin’s incredible career, having also claimed the title in 2013 (Victoria), 2015 (Halifax), 2018 (Las Vegas), 2019 (Lethbridge), 2021 (Calgary), 2022 (Las Vegas) and 2024 (Schaffhausen, Switzerland).
Dunstone also finished 10-2 in the round robin but ended up third after the last-rock draw tiebreaker. He’d go on to defeat Italy’s Stefano Spiller 9-7 in the qualification game before taking a 9-7 win over Scotland’s Ross Whyte in the semifinal.
Scotland defeated the United States 11-6 to win bronze.
