The 2023 World Men's Curling Championship (branded as 2023 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from April 1 to 9 at TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[1] Ottawa was selected as the host site in June 2022. It had originally been planned for the city to host the event in 2021, but the event was moved to the "Calgary bubble" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first time Ottawa hosted the men's Worlds.[2]
The format for the Championship featured a thirteen team round robin. The top six teams qualified for the playoff round where the top two teams received a bye while the remaining four played the first round.
The event was expected to attract approximately 70,000 fans, which was ultimately exceeded. The Aberdeen Pavilion acted as the "patch" for the event, the site where fans gathered during the event.[3]
The tournament marked the final major event for ice technician Dave Merklinger.[4]
Team Turkey, who were making their debut at the event were no-shows at the opening ceremonies, making an "inauspicious" start to the event.[5] The team would later blame a miscommunication for their absence, believing that the ceremonies were to be held on April 2.[6]
An ice storm hit Ottawa on April 5, knocking out power in various parts of the city, but not at TD Place.[7] Despite the weather, crowds remained "decent". Rocks were re-textured prior to matches on the day, and Canada skip Brad Gushue indicated that the venue was cooler in the morning, but the ice held up.[8] The most notable event on the 5th was in the draw 12 game between Sweden and Norway, where Swedish skip Niklas Edin made what many were calling one of the greatest or "craziest" shots in curling history, that has been dubbed a "shot heard around the curling world".[9] Down by two in the tenth end, Edin had to throw a rock with an incredible amount of spin, making it curl enough to bump a guarded corner-frozen Norwegian stone at the perfect angle to avoid moving the Swedish rock it was frozen to, while also moving the Norwegian stone far enough to score two. A near-impossible shot, it could have only been made by throwing a "spinner," a rarely thrown shot in the sport. Usually a rock will rotate just a few times during its trajectory, but Edin's rock made over 53.5 rotations according to curling oddsmaker Matt Hall. Throwing a spinner is so rare, laughter could be heard at the arena when Edin released the rock. Edin was successful though, with his shooter rock being the second point, which was confirmed after a measurement. TSN commentator Russ Howard called the shot "the best ... I've ever seen in my life!" World Curling Federation commentator Tyler George said "There's these moments in sports where sometimes the moment is bigger than the result of the game. I will remember that shot for as long as I live." Despite the shot, Team Sweden ended up losing the game in the extra end.[10][11][12]
Turkey won their first ever game at the Men's World Championship in their draw 15 match against New Zealand, defeating the Kiwis 8–5. They followed that up with a second win in draw 16, defeating South Korea 8–3.[13]
Following the round robin portion, the top six team made the playoffs. Switzerland earned the top seed with an 11–1 record, while Scotland earned the second seed with a 10–2 record. Both teams earned a bye to the semifinals. The third seed went to Norway (also 10–2), who played the six seeded Italians (8–4) in a qualification game, while the fourth seeded Canadians (9–3) played the number five ranked Swedes (also 9–3). The winners of the qualification games advanced to the semifinals.[14]
In the qualification games, Canada easily dispatched Sweden 9–1, ending their reign as four-time defending World champions, while Italy eliminated Norway, 8–4. Canada then went on to defeat the number one seeded Swiss in the semifinals 7–5, while Italy lost to Scotland 8–9 in an extra end.[15] Italy nearly won the game in the 10th, as with 12 seconds left on their game clock, skip Joël Retornaz nearly made a long split to score three, but one of their rocks landed a few millimetres from the house, which was confirmed after a measurement.[16]
With their semifinal losses, Italy and Switzerland faced off for the bronze medal. In their match, Switzerland dominated. After leading 3–0 after three, the Swiss stole even more points, including a three-ender in the fifth after Italian skip Joël Retornaz took out his own stone. Italy finally scored in the sixth end, getting a deuce, but Switzerland scored three again in the seventh. Switzerland ended up winning the game 11–3.[17]
In the final, Scotland easily defeated Canada 9–3. The Bruce Mouat rink, representing Scotland won their first World title, and the first since 2009 for their nation. It also completed the medal set for the Mouat team, which won a silver in 2021 and a bronze in 2019. The team struck first blood in the second end scoring a deuce, after Mouat made a double take out. This was followed by a steal of two in the third, when Canada skip Brad Gushue was heavy on a draw against three Scottish counters. This gave the Scots an early 4–0 lead, taking the partisan Canadian crowd out of the game. Scotland kept the pressure on in the fourth, forcing Gushue to hit for a single point. Another costly mistake by Gushue came in the fifth when he was heavy on a tap attempt, which was followed up by a Mouat draw for two to lead 6–1. Canada finally got a two-ender in the sixth, when Scotland played the end safe, with Mouat opting for an easier hit instead of a double. After a blanked seventh, Gushue made another mistake when he was not able to remove a Scottish stone from the house, allowing Mouat to make a hit for three. With the score now 9–3 for Scotland, Canada conceded the game, handing the World Championship to Mouat and company. The Scottish team were in near-perfect form, with all four members curling in the 90s, with their percentage as a team at 96.[18] In total, 5,604 fans attended the final, bringing the total attendance for the week to 75,960.[19][20]
Thirteen curling federations qualified to participate in the 2023 World Men's Curling Championship. This is the first World Men's Championship appearance for Turkey, being represented by skip Uğurcan Karagöz.
Niklas Edin was faced with an incredibly difficult shot in the 10th end to score two and force an extra end against Norway. To make the shot, Edin had to throw the stone with an excessive amount of rotation to bump a frozen Norwegian rock leftward without displacing his Swedish rock too far, and then holding the shooter to count as the second point. After making the shot, there was a measurement to confirm Sweden had scored two.
Scotland
Canada (Gushue)
South Korea 
United States 
Japan 
New Zealand
Switzerland 
Italy 
Sweden 
Norway 
Turkey 
Czech Republic 
Germany
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Brad Gushue, Canada
Yannick Schwaller, Switzerland (Skip)
Rasmus Wranå, Sweden
Anton Hood, New Zealand
