Gushue’s title defence falls short
Sweden’s Niklas Edin gets some payback for loss in last year’s final
Canada’s Brad Gushue fell a win short of a second straight men’s world curling championship and settled for silver Sunday.
Sweden’s Niklas Edin avenged a loss to Gushue in last year’s world final by dominating Can- ada 7-3 in the championship game in Las Vegas. Gushue shook hands after eight ends.
“Real disappointed, obviously,” Gushue said. “It wasn’t our best effort, and Niklas and his team played great today.
“I guess the only positive thing to look at is that even if we had played a great game, they probably still would have won with how well they played. They were certainly the best team today.”
Edin’s third career world title is Sweden’s eighth in the 60year history of the tournament.
The 32-year-old from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, also won gold in 2015 in Halifax and 2013 in Victoria.
“We have a couple guys who haven’t won the world championship, so it’s amazing for our team to really be on top, after the Olympic loss, especially, and losing the world final last year as well,” Edin said.
“They were way better than us last year, but I think this year, it was our turn.”
Edin, third Oskar Eriksson, second Rasmus Wranaa and lead Christopher Sundgren were silver medallists at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February.
They lost 10-7 to John Shuster of the U.S. in the Olympic final.
Gushue, vice Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker out of the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club in St. John’s, N.L., were attempt- ing to become the fifth team to win back-to-back world titles.
“I think with how we played this week, and struggled through with everything that happened leading up to it, it’s still positive,” Gushue said. “Certainly disappointed because we came here to win, but Niklas and his team were certainly deserving.
“At the end of the day, second in the world is pretty good, but it’s a little short of what we were hoping for.”