North America is guaranteed a place in the final of the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, while four out of the five surviving European teams will battle in Friday morning tiebreakers.

Canada's Glenn Howard defeated Scotland's Warwick Smith 7-5 to finish in first place at 10-1. Canada will meet Todd Birr of the United States in Friday's 1 versus 2 "page" playoff game with the winner advancing to Sunday's final.

Meanwhile, Germany's Andy Kapp lost 7-5 to Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen and ruined his chance at fourth place and a match with Switzerland's Ralph Stöckli in the 3 versus 4 page playoff game.

The Danish victory allows three teams into tiebreakers along with Germany: Sweden's Peja Lindholm, a three-time world champion; France's Thomas Dufour; and Finland's 2006 Olympic silver medallist Markku Uusipaavalniemi, who defeated Dufour 10-6.

Friday morning sees Sweden and France in one tiebreaker, and Germany versus Finland in the other. The winners tangle in the afternoon and that winner is through to meet the Swiss. That loser is eliminated while the victor will move into Saturday's bronze medal game, the de facto semi-final.

Finland's towering skip, known as M-15 for the jumble of letters in his last name, finished his game early and watched the German drama unfold while clad in blue jeans, and clutching a beverage.

"I was in already in beer mode, and now I must play again," he quipped. "This almost happened in the Salt Lake (2002) Olympics, if Switzerland would lose, we would be in the tiebreakers. But they won.

"This is a new experience for me."

Birr's United States outfit placed second at 8-3 after an 0-2 start, winning eight out of their last nine starts.

"We just played really well and we executed our game plan," said Birr, after beating Sweden 6-5 to close out the round-robin.

So what is the game plan, Todd?

"Keep it simple," Birr replied. "Pick your spots. Keep the eight-foot open. "You don't want to draw against Canada, those guys are awesome."

The Americans were the only team to solve Canada's Howard, beating them 7-6 on Wednesday night.

"You don't suppose they've forgotten about last night, do you?" Birr joked.

Switzerland's Stöckli had lost a critical game, 10-6 to France's Dufour, before rebounding to defeat the Finns 7-4 in his final afternoon match.

"After losing to France it was really important to come back and win that game, and stay in the competition," said Stöckli. "We're half-broken from the back-to-back games."

Kapp was delighted with his earlier 7-5 win over Norway, which first took the Germans to their goal of a 6-5 record.

"We chose (6-5) as a goal to make it easier for us," said Kapp. "We wanted to manage our goals, and making the playoffs would be a bonus."

Kapp merely shrugged when asked if his loss to the Danes has caused him consternation.

Norway's other loss was to Denmark, by a 9-5 scoreline. Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud, winner of a bronze medal in 2006, finished a disappointing 4-7.

"It was a bit of everything," said Ulsrud. "Most of all we can blame ourselves. We've been in close games coming home without the hammer, and you can't steal on these teams. But we put ourselves in this position.

"The worst thing is we spent two weeks in Canada before the event, playing in a Grand Slam, and we almost qualified for the money round. We went 3-2 against some good Canadian teams, so we thought we had a great chance to beat some European teams coming here. It's disappointing."

France's Thomas Dufour continued his stirring string of victories at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship Wednesday morning.

The French, considered also-rans prior to the event, thrashed Australia's Hugh Millikin 7-3 to move to 5-3 and into a share of second place with Germany, Switzerland and the United States.

The Swiss defeated Scotland 6-4 while Todd Birr's U.S. outfit edged Andy Kapp of Germany 7-6. Norway's Thomas Ulsrud recovered from two previous losses to thump Je Ho Lee of Korea 7-2, and climb to 4-4.

"I'm surprised and very pleased," said Dufour, a 34-year-old ski guide from Chamonix. "I don't know the reasons why (we are winning). Maybe it's other teams who are scared of us now? The stars are in a good place in the sky for us, perhaps."

France has only one world medal, a bronze scored by Pierre Boan in 1973, who rang up a 7-3 win/loss record. But France does have an Olympic medal in curling - a bronze - awarded retroactively last year when the International Olympic Committee judged the curling event at the 1924 Games in Chamonix to be an official medal sport.

The move caused a ruckus within the sagging French curling scene, Dufour included.

"We were so pleased," said Dufour, who says the original rocks used in 1924 - with iron handles - are still on display at his home curling club.

"We immediately thought it could increase the sport. in France people look at curling (on television) but they think it's funny, or a nice sport.

There is a good TV audience on Eurosport, but we have to win. That's the only thing we can do, as a team. "We are pleased to play, it's a game of passion. But we also want to advance the sport."

Birr's United States foursome has also surprised many among the busy crowds at Edmonton's Rexall Place.

"We started slow in every tournament we've played in," said Birr. "We started slow here, too. We're playing well, we're playing our kind of game."

Kapp's German outfit couldn't buy a break, although critics would point out the Germans have earned their share of good fortune in earlier matches.

"We don't care about the position (rankings), it's just one game at a time," said Kapp, who is competing in his 10th world championship, having scored a silver and three bronze medals.

"Instead of 4-0 it should have been 2-1 or 2-2, I just didn't have the breaks. "But it was a good fight back, we had a good team spirit."

Germany faces powerhouse Canada Wednesday afternoon, with the host team sitting pretty in first place at 7-0.

"We must fight and we must kill them," Kapp said with a smile.

It was a Swiss miss during a premiere matchup at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.

Switzerland's Ralph Stöckli attempted to throw a curveball against Canada's Glenn Howard by inserting defending European champion skip Andy Schwaller, the Swiss alternate, into his lineup. But Schwaller and Stöckli both fizzled as Switzerland fell 8-2 to the Canadians.

Swiss second Markus Eggler, who won the world championship in 1992, took himself out of the lineup.

"It was my decision," said Eggler. "I had a really nice dream, and also I thought we would do a surprise for the Canadians."

Schwaller, the 2002 Olympic bronze medallist, lost the Swiss final to Stöckli, and was promptly chosen as the Worlds alternate. That was no surprise as Schwaller had picked Stöckli as his alternate at December's Le Gruyère European Championship, an event which saw Stöckli play the entire week at third position en route to winning Switzerland's first European gold since 1986.

Schwaller, throwing second rocks for the first time in his career, struggled with a 71 shooting percentage. Stöckli wasn't much better at 72. By comparison, Canada's Howard fired 81 per cent, his lowest score of the week.

"I played like shite," Stöckli declared, using the Scottish slang term. "I wouldn't beat any team out there, even if they weren't Canada."

Howard, who moved to 4-0, was taken aback by Stöckli's acknowledgement that the Swiss didn't expect to win the game.

"I'm very surprised by that, they're a great team," said the Canadian skip. "It's cool to know we have that kind of respect."

Stöckli, however, concedes Canada's curling power only through the round-robin portion of the event.

"Everybody knows it's a whole different competition when the playoffs start," Stöckli said. "There are a few teams here who can beat Canada in a playoff game."

The back-breaker was a deuce in the fourth end followed by a steal of two in the fifth. By the time Canada scored three in the ninth, the result was automatic.

In other games, Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi outgunned Australia's Hugh Millikin 11-9 to climb to 2-2, while Sweden's Peja Lindholm bounced back from Sunday's loss to Canada with a 7-3 pasting of Norway's Thomas Ulsrud.

Also climbing back into contention is the United States and rookie skip Todd Birr. After an 0-2 start, the Americans are 2-2 following a 9-1 crushing of Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen in just six ends.

Later today, Scotland's Warwick Smith knocks heads with Sweden and Norway while Germany's Andy Kapp matches wits with Australia and Finland. Switzerland and Canada both battle Korea.

Photo courtesy by Mike Burns/WCF

The World Curling Federation announced today that Cortina D'Ampezzo in northern Italy has been awarded hosting rights for the 2010 World Men's Curling Championship.

"This is a special day for world curling," said Les Harrison, WCF President. "The world men's curling championship, in an Olympic year, will be contested at the fabled home of the 1956 Olympic Winter Games."

The 4,000 seat arena, built for Italy's first-ever winter games, is being rebuilt.

"In Cortina curling is very, very popular," said Luigi Alvera, president of GIS-Cortina Sports Facilities Management. "Cortina is actually the cradle of curling in Italy. It is people from Cortina that brought curling into Italy.

"After the Olympics, curling spread all over Italy - mainly northern Italy of course - because we have ice facilities."

"We had two excellent bids," said Harrison, giving a nod to Hamburg, Germany, which was also in the running to host the 2010 championship.

"We were very impressed with both bids, and the decision of our executive board was extremely difficult," continued Harrison.

"I would not hesitate to invite Hamburg to submit another bid for a championship, no question."

The announcement caps a string of impressive hosting victories for Italy. In addition to hosting the 2006 Olympic Winter Games (Pinerolo), Italy has played host to two Winter Universiades (Claut 2002 and Pinerolo 2007), the 2003 Le Gruyère European Championships (Courmayeur), the 2006 European Mixed Championship (Claut) and the 2005 World Junior Championships (Pinerolo).

The 2008 Ford World Men's Curling Championship is slated for Grand Forks, North Dakota, with a decision on the Canadian host of the 2009 Worlds to come in the next few months.

Sweden's Peja Lindholm moved into a tie for second place at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship

Lindholm, a three-time world champion, defeated Germany's Andy Kapp 7-5 in a battle of playoff contenders. The Germans dropped into the tie with Sweden at 4-2.

Canada's Glenn Howard maintained his tight grip of first place with a 12-5 defeat of France's Thomas Dufour. The Canadians climbed to 6-0 while France dropped to 2-3.

Lindholm is skipping a new team for the first time in two decades. His longtime teammates retired after a disappointing 2006 Olympics in Turin, and Lindholm's new squad features transplanted Scotsman James Dryburgh at third. Dryburgh, a two-time world junior champion for Scotland, has lived in Sweden for seven years.

Dryburgh defeated his Scottish mates, skipped by Warwick Smith, on Monday night and declared his new allegiance with resolve.

"I'm Swedish, and that's the end of it," said Dryburgh. "I'm married to a Swedish girl, I'm living there for the rest of my life, I speak Swedish and I'm never going back to Scotland.

"There comes a time when you make life decisions like that, and I've made mine."

Lindholm grabbed a huge three-ender in the sixth frame against Germany, and promptly planted a kiss on Dryburgh.

"James read the ice perfect today," said Lindholm. "He made his shots, he made me look good."

After the match against Scotland, the feisty Lindholm gathered his teammates at centre ice and engaged them in a lively lecture. The Scots had made a stirring comeback only to be shot down in the 10th and final end.

"I told them that was an important game, with lots of benefits for us," said Lindholm. "I told them this game will help us a lot (at the Olympics) in 2010. We played 100 per cent the last end.

"That showed a lot of balls from our team."

Olympic points are a critical part of the world championships, with nations receiving qualifying points over the next three worlds for the eventual nine spots available at Vancouver 2010.

The 10th spot goes to host nation Canada, and with Howard's team a virtual shoe-in for the playoffs, a great showing in Edmonton just might carry a nation straight through to a berth three years from now.

"It's very, very important to every country to get an Olympic spot," said Finnish skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi.  "You get the media attention back home, and the chance to grow the sport."

Uusipaavalniemi is hoping his longtime third Wille Makela will come out of retirement in time for Vancouver 2010. Makela already returned to the sport just prior to the Turin Olympics and helped Uusipaavalniemi win the Olympic silver medal.

"I hope (he comes back) next year," said the skip known as M-15. "I really hope to be curling in Vancouver and I hope Wille will be too."

Finland showed its prowess in defeating the wobbling Scots by 6-1 count. Now mired at 2-4, Scotland are in dire straits.

"Terrible," said skip Warwick Smith, who was a member of last year's world championship team skipped by David Murdoch.

"I'm annoyed. We've got to regroup and find out what we're doing wrong."

Scotland's second is David Smith, the 1991 world champion skip.

"We just need to win some games," said Smith. "We gotta hope for dog eat dog."

Kapp, who meets Switzerland's Ralph Stoeckli in Tuesday night action, said he is not paying attention to the race for Olympic points.

"We'll look at the end - it's the middle of the week and we don't look at the Olympic points," said Kapp.

Canada's Howard recalled his previous game against France, 20 years ago at the 1987 world championships in Vancouver.

Teamed with his brother Russ Howard at skip, Canada lost to France's Jean-Francois Orset in the very first game, before eventually winning the world championship.

"It's not so much revenge, but it was a huge loss," Howard recalled. "I remember they bawled, they we're crying, they were so happy," Howard said.

"Of course, I wanted to bawl too. It was my first world championship and we'd just lost our opening game."

Howard also won the 1993 world title, again with his brother at skip position. Howard, unsurprisingly, likes the way his team is performing in Edmonton.

"I think as a foursome this is the best we've ever played," said Howard. "The peaks and valleys have been few and far between."

"We've struggled to stay focused at times," said Canadian third Richard Hart, an Olympic silver medallist for Canada's Mike Harris in 1998. "The last few games have been difficult that way, to be honest with you.

"We have a few tough games coming up, starting with Norway, so that should help us getting closer to the playoffs."