Brad Gushue is approaching this year’s men’s world curling championships like it could be his last.
The experienced skip from St. John’s, N.L., won the world championship in 2017 and was a finalist three times, including the last two years. The 43-year-old isn't assuming he will have more opportunities in the future.
“At this point, you have to treat every one like it’s the last one,” Gushue said in recent media availability before leaving for Schaffhausen, Switzerland. “I’m going into this like it could be the last because, whether I play for five or 10 more years, winning a Brier is extremely tough. You don’t get these opportunities all the time.
“Hopefully we’ve got a few more left (in us) but I don’t think we can assume that’s going to happen.”
Gushue and his team won this year’s Brier with a 9-5 victory over Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen in Regina. For Gushue, Nichols and Walker, it was their sixth Brier victory and third consecutive.
Harnden, in his second season with Gushue, collected his third national title. His first was in 2013 with Brad Jacobs’ Northern Ontario crew.
The men’s curling championship begins Saturday at the KSS Sports Complex. The 13 teams will play a round robin with the top six advancing to the playoffs and semifinals next Saturday. The winner will be crowned April 7.
Gushue knows how difficult it is to win a world title. He lost last year’s final 9-3 to Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and in 2022 was beaten 8-6 by Sweden’s Niklas Edin. He also lost the 2018 final to Edin.
“I think one thing we’ve done real well at the world championships is put ourselves in the position, if we have a great game, we can win it,” said Gushue. “Or, if someone slips up, we might win as well. Unfortunately for us, the last three times we played in the final we either had a poor game or, in the situation last year, Bruce had an incredible game.
“This year is just about getting back in that position of getting into the playoffs and hopefully making the final. If we could put a game together like we’re capable of playing, then we’ll give ourselves a real good chance. To win these big championships, you need a little bit of luck and a little bit of timing. At the last few worlds we haven’t had that in the last game of the week.”
View image in full screen
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Gushue was the last Canadian rink to win the world title. Edin won four consecutive crowns before Mouat won last year. The 2020 championships were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Rachel Homan ended a four-year drought for Canada by winning the women’s world curling championship with a 7-5 win over Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni on Sunday in Sydney, N.S.
Gushue said Homan’s win doesn’t put any extra pressure on his rink.
“If anything it probably takes the pressure off,” he said. “We have a world championship.
“I think Canadian curling fans are fully understanding of world curling now and how challenging it is.”
Homan and Gushue were the skips the last time Canadian rinks won both the men and women’s titles in 2017.
Gushue knows very well how hard it is to win, whether it's at the Olympics or the Brier. He got an Olympic gold in 2006, but didn't win his first Brier until 2017. He also got a bronze at the 2022 Olympics.
Every competition taught him something new.
He mentioned, “You learn from those experiences and make sure you're as ready as possible. We've already discussed what to expect based on our previous world championships.
“I believe we are better prepared because of those past experiences.”
The competition at the world championship has also gotten better.
Joel Retornaz’s team from Italy is ranked first in the world, with Mouat in second place and Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller, who won the bronze last year, in fifth.
South Korea’s Park Jong-duk is seen as a potential medal winner after beating Gushue in the preliminary round of this year’s Pan Continentals. Gushue then beat Park in the final. American John Shuster won gold at the 2018 Olympics and came third in the 2016 world championship.
Gushue begins with matches on Saturday against Lukas Klima of the Czech Republic and Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz.
“It's a very competitive field and even the teams that might not be expected to reach the playoffs, they all have the ability to beat any team,” Gushue said. “There are no easy games.
“We are also confident that if we play at our best, we should be in contention at the end of the week and hopefully give ourselves a chance to win.”
