Canada scores 2 in final end for back-to-back world mixed curling titles

Colin Kurz and his Canadian teammates capped a 8-0 run at the world mixed curling championship with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over Germany on Saturday in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Beats Germany to become second team since 2015 to go undefeated at event

Second Brendan Bilawka and his Canadian teammates pulled out a 6-5 win over Germany in Scotland on Saturday to win a gold medal for the second year in a row at the world mixed curling championship. (Twitter/@CurlingCanada)

Skip Colin Kurz and his Canadian teammates capped a 8-0 run at the world mixed curling championship with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over Germany on Saturday in Aberdeen, Scotland.

After the Germans stole a point in the seventh end to take a 5-4 lead, Kurz, vice-skip Meghan Walter, second Brendan Bilawka and lead Sara Oliver scored with the hammer in the final end to become the first rink to repeat as champion since the event began in 2015.

"World champion has a good ring to it," he told Curling Canada. "We're very happy; it hasn't really sunk in yet, but it's kind of what we came here for."

"It was a good feeling seeing that rock come down and to know that we had it," said Kurz, whose rink beat Germany 6-3 in its round-robin opener. "I don't think I'll forget that feeling for a long time."

The Canadian rink, which began as a group of friends from Winnipeg creating a mixed team, is the second to run the table at worlds since Russia in 2016.

On top of the world

"I think how good friends we are helped," said Kurz of going undefeated. "We never really got into any big problems. We were able to socialize a bit with all the teams here and we didn't overthink anything."

Canada maintains top spot in the world mixed curling rankings, while 17-year-old Walter is the youngest player in history to win a world mixed gold medal.

The Canadians edged Norway skip Ingvild Skaga 6-5 earlier Saturday and held a 4-1 advantage through five ends of the final before Germany answered with three points in the sixth.

Norway scored two in the final end in the bronze-medal match to beat South Korea 6-5.

The Canadian mixed curling championship will run Nov. 3-9 in Saguenay, Que., where it will be determined which teams represent Canada at next year's world mixed competition.