Field filling out for 2017 Ford Worlds
We now know 11 of the 12 countries that will be chasing gold at the 2017 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, presented by Service Experts, April 1-9 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
The host Canadian team — which will be decided next March at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier in St. John’s — will be joined by 11 other teams who will not only be chasing a world championship but also oh-so-valuable qualifying points to be part of the field at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Eight more countries that will be playing in Edmonton were determined at the 2016 Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships, which wrapped up Saturday at the Braehead Arena near Glasgow, Scotland.
Sweden’s Niklas Edin defeated Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud 6-5 in an extra end on Saturday to win the gold medal, while Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz was an 8-6 victor over Russia’s Alexey Tomofeev in the bronze-medal game.
The top seven finishers in the ‘A’ Pool in Glasgow — Sweden, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland and Italy — all automatically qualified for Edmonton (they will determine their representative teams later this season).
Meanwhile, the eighth-place finisher, Austria’s Sebastian Wunderer, faced a best-of-three challenge from the ‘B’ Pool champion, Jaap van Drop of the Netherlands, for the final European berth into the Ford Worlds.
And on Saturday, the Netherlands prevailed 6-5 over Austria to nail down the final European entry — only the second time that country has qualified for the World Men’s Championship, and the first time since 1994.
Japan and China qualified earlier this month at the Pacific Asia Championships in Uiseong, South Korea.
The 12th and final berth will be decided in the Americas Zone Challenge, a best-of-five series between the United States and Brazil, beginning Jan. 27.
New holiday ticket offers for the 2017 Ford Worlds are now available. Go to www.curling.ca/2017worldmen/tickets/ for more information.
