LAS VEGAS — The two clear favourites have delivered all week at the world men's curling championship. Saturday's semifinals were no different.
Canada's Brad Gushue and Sweden's Niklas Edin posted evening victories to set up a gold-medal showdown in the latest chapter of one of the sport's best rivalries.
Gushue beat Edin in the 2017 world final at Edmonton but Edin won the return match a year later at this same Orleans Arena venue.
The Swede is a three-time defending champion and coming in hot after beating Gushue en route to Olympic gold last February. Gushue took the bronze in Beijing and followed it up with his fourth national title in six years.
"It's been a long year and we've been grinding," Gushue said. "You'd hate to get to the finish line and not put in a good game. Hopefully we can play well."
Gushue beat American Korey Dropkin 8-5 in one semifinal and Edin topped Italy's Joel Retornaz 8-4 in the other.
Gushue and his St. John's-based team of Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker scored two in the 10th end when Dropkin's final draw was a little heavy.
As the top seed, the Canadians will have hammer in the Sunday afternoon matchup.
"It's just a very consistent team," Edin said of the Gushue rink. "They will make you play well and earn your win. We're definitely never going to beat them in a quick game. So we have to play close to perfect and then it will still take a last shot probably if we want to win."
Dropkin reached the semifinal with a 6-4 win over Scotland's Kyle Waddell in a qualification game earlier Saturday.
Both Canada and the U.S. made errors in the first end as they appeared to struggle with getting a read on the ice. Gallant made two mistakes and Nichols flashed his first stone but Canada still managed to blank.
More precision shots were made in the second end and Gushue delivered a double-takeout to open the scoring with a pair.
A small but mighty crowd -- split almost evenly between Canadian and American supporters -- provided some atmosphere in a venue that has been quiet most of the week.
Dropkin tried an angle-raise in the third end but could only get a single. He gave up a steal of two in the sixth but scored his first deuce in the ninth end after gently tapping his own stone.
Canada posted a 10-2 round-robin record to lock up the first seed. Sweden beat Canada earlier in the week but finished second in the 13-team field entering the playoffs.
Retornaz, who dumped Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller 10-4 in the other qualification game, will play Dropkin for the bronze Sunday morning.
Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni won the women's world title last month in Prince George, B.C. Canada's Kerri Einarson took the bronze.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2022.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
