Canada’s Matt Dunstone clinched a playoff berth with two victories on Wednesday at the world men’s curling championship in Ogden, Utah. In the morning session, he narrowly defeated Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli 8-7, followed by a 9-5 win over Czechia’s Lukas Klima in the evening, extending his winning streak to six games and improving his record to 8-2.
The playoff spots were also secured by the five other teams – Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, Italy, and the United States – before the evening matches began. Round-robin matches will continue until Thursday night.
During the early game, Dunstone’s team from Winnipeg surrendered three points to Hoesli in the ninth end. However, the Canadian skip managed to secure the victory with a precise draw in the 10th end.
Dunstone expressed his relief, stating, “I knew it was heavy out of my hand, and the sweepers weren’t a big fan of what I gave them either, but fortunately that rock had eyes and I’m thankful it did.” The top two teams in the round-robin standings will receive a bye to the semifinals.
Sweden’s Niklas Edin took the lead with a 9-2 record after defeating Poland 9-1. Scotland’s Ross Whyte joined Canada and Switzerland with an 8-2 record by overcoming Norway’s Andreas Haarstad 7-5.
In the evening game, Canada sealed the victory with three points in the ninth end, thanks to Dunstone’s precision takeout and roll. Lead Ryan Harnden commented, “We controlled the game. (The ice) was quite slow, so we tried to keep it as simple as we could.”
China’s Xiaoming Xu defeated South Korea’s Changmin Kim 8-4 in the other late match, while Italy’s Stefano Spiller and American John Shuster, both at 7-3, had no games scheduled.
Looking ahead, Dunstone emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum, saying, “We have to keep the pedal down and keep on going.” He acknowledged the significance of earning a bye in the upcoming matches to avoid back-to-back games on Friday.
The medal matches are set to take place on Saturday.