Team Canada claims bronze at the 2025 World Men’s Curling Championship, secures Olympic quota spots
Team Canada—composed of skip Brad Jacobs, vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, and alternate Tyler Tardi—defeated China’s Team Xiaoming Xu 11-2 to secure the bronze medal at the 2025 World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
The victory, which marked their 12th win of the tournament, was fuelled by a dominant start and a five-point breakout in the fourth end on Sunday at the Temple Gardens Centre.
“We wanted to win. You know, we wanted to come out of this thing strong, hold our heads high, get ourselves on the podium,” Jacobs said. “Do it for ourselves, do it for the fans and we were able to do that today, so I’m really proud of us.”
Canadian curling fans had little doubt of the result as early as the first end. Jacobs’ rink came out strong as Jacobs made the split with his first stone of the game to set up a score of three for Canada in the opening end. In the third end, Canada put more rocks in play and Xu had to draw against four counters to pick up his first point.
With the hammer again in the fourth end, Team Jacobs made a hit for five points. China attempted to hit-and-roll off its own to sit in scoring position but hit it too thin. That left Canada with a hit for the big end. In the fifth end, Xu’s draw came up short, allowing Canada to steal two more points. Canada was firmly in control with a 10-1 lead at the fifth-end break.
“Coming out of the gate strong with a three was awesome,” Jacobs said. “And then the five obviously broke the game wide open.”
Canada’s skip Ben Hebert throws the final stone of their World Men’s Curling Championship campaign as they defeat China 11-2 in the Bronze medal draw in Moose Jaw, Sask. on Sunday April 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young 
Canada’s Ben Hebert and Brett Gallant sweep a stone towards the house for skip Brad Jacobs during their country’s Bronze medal draw against China at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask. on Sunday April 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young 
Canada’s Marc Kennedy embraces skip Brad Jacobs as Ben Hebert and Brett Gallant look after their 11-2 win in their Bronze medal draw at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask. on Sunday April 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
China managed to score a single point in the sixth end, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap. Heading into the seventh end, Canada led 10-2 and finished things up with a single point in the eighth to win it 11-2.
The Chinese players offered to concede after the seventh end but the umpires advised that the eight-end minimum was required. It made for an unusual finish as players quickly threw their stones just to officially complete the proceedings.
This marks Canada’s eighth bronze medal but 58th medal of all time at the World Men’s Curling Championship. Canada’s last title at this event came in 2017 when Brad Gushue was victorious in Edmonton, AB.
It was Hebert’s fifth world championship and Moose Jaw has stood out as one of the best for the Regina-born lead, even though he’s won two golds (2008 and 2016) and two silver (2009 and 2019). Not taking opportunities to wear the Maple Leaf for granted, the result is still something he’s proud of.
“We were playing good enough to win and we just came up a couple shots short. But for us, it’s tough to get out of Canada. You’ve got to beat Gushue, you’ve got to beat Dunstone, Koe, Ferbey, Martin, Stoughton,” said Hebert. “I’ve been to five of these through 20 years almost. There’s a lot of good teams out there. So for us, it’s a huge privilege to be here. I got to wear the Maple Leaf again, which was a total blessing.”
Kennedy won two gold and one silver alongside Hebert and adds bronze to his collection. Gallant earned one gold in 2017 and silvers in 2018 and 2022.
In the semifinal, the home team, 11-1 in the round robin, bowed 7-4 to the only team it lost to earlier this week, Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat. Scotland will play for their second gold medal on Canadian soil in three years Sunday at 11 p.m. ET against Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller after winning the world title in 2023 in Ottawa.
“We tried,” said Jacobs, who barely missed on a slash double takeout in the 10th end for the potential victory. “What can I say? We fought. We battled. We tried. They were better than us today. But we’re going to regroup here and come out and try to get ourselves on the podium and get a bronze medal.”
It was a strong effort from both teams Saturday. The Canadians outcurled the Scots percentage-wise 93-89, with the front end of Hebert and Gallant scoring at 100 and 99 respectively. But in the end, it was Scotland’s vice-skip Grant Hardie who dictated the game in the early going with a series of precision shots that turned Canada’s first-end hammer advantage into a 4-2 Scottish lead through six ends, as he repeatedly snuffed out Canadian opportunities to score multiple points.
READ: Team Canada playing in semis at World Men’s Curling Championship
In the other semifinal, the Swiss had little trouble defeating China 7-3. Switzerland scored deuces with the last rock in the first and fifth ends, and added a stolen deuce in the sixth, and will try to win its first gold medal since Team Markus Eggler prevailed in 1992 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
