Canada’s Brad Gushue defeated Czechia’s Lukas Klima 9-8 in an extra end on Saturday at the world men’s curling championship.
Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., made a hit-and-stick for the victory in the round-robin opener at the IWC Arena.
His team of Mark Nichols, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker was scheduled to play Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz later in the day.
In other early games, American John Shuster opened with a 5-3 win over Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller and Sweden’s Niklas Edin dumped Wouter Goesgens of the Netherlands 8-1.
Defending champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland posted a 10-3 victory over South Korea’s Jongduk Park.
The top six teams in the 13-team field will qualify for the weekend playoffs. Canada is looking for its first gold medal at this event since Gushue’s 2017 title in Edmonton.