The 2013 Ford World Men's Curling Championship begins tomorrow in Victoria, British Columbia. This year's championship is one of three qualifying events for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The top seven nations in the qualification standings after this event will automatically qualify for the Olympics. Canada currently leads the standings with the United States in eighth place. The Yanks have some work to do!
None of the skips in this year's tournament has won a world championship before. Even though Canada's Brad Jacobs had never even won his country's championship before this year, he comes to Victoria as the prohibitive favorite. The Canadian men own the sport, having won the world title 34 times - more than everyone else put together. Jacobs's rink hails from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
The two strongest threats to the Canadians are Sweden and Scotland. The Swedes, led by Niklas Edin, are the reigning European champions. While Scotland's Tom Brewster has never taken the world title, he has won the silver medal each of the past two years.
The United States are represented by the Seattle-based rink led by Brady Clark. Clark won the national title for the first time this year. He has had much greater success in mixed curling, with nine national team championships and three national doubles titles. He was also national collegiate champion in 1999.
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