Canada’s Brendan Bottcher capped the preliminary round at the men’s world curling championship with a 9-6 win over Germany and prepared for a playoff game later Friday.
The host country finished the round robin with a 9-4 record. Bottcher awaited results of afternoon games to know Canada’s opponent in the evening.
Bottcher’s team from Edmonton needed to win the playoff game to advance to Saturday’s semi-finals. The medal games are Sunday.
Defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden and Russia’s Sergey Glukhov, each 10-2 with a game remaining in the round robin, had already secured byes Saturday’s semi-finals.
John Shuster of the United States (9-3), Scotland’s Bruce Mouat (9-4) and Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz (8-5) were the other playoff teams.
Glukhov’s official team name is Russian Curling Federation because of World Anti-Doping Agency sanctions against that country.