Get to know the teams competing at this year's men's world curling championships

Brad Jacobs and his Alberta-based team will represent Canada at the BKT Tires World Men's Curling Championship starting Saturday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

Here's a capsule look at the 13 teams in the field (countries in alphabetical order, athletes from skip to lead):

AUSTRIA

Mathias Genner, Jonas Backofen, Martin Reichel, Florian Mavec

Austria is making its first world championship appearance since 2002. Genner competed at the Youth Olympic Games in 2012.

CANADA

Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert

The host team earned the right to wear the Maple Leaf by winning the recent Montana's Brier in Kelowna, B.C. Canada hasn't won gold at this event since Brad Gushue was victorious in 2017 at Edmonton.

WATCH | Jacobs wins Brier against Team Dunstone:

Brad Jacobs' Team Alberta wins 2025 Brier on great final shot

CHINA

Xiaoming Xu, Xueqing Fei, Zhiyu Wang, Zhichao Li

Xu guided this team to an upset victory at the Pan Continental playdowns last fall in Lacombe, Alta. Gushue represented Canada but settled for a fourth-place finish.

CZECHIA

Lukas Klima, Marek Cernovsky, Martin Jurik, Lukas Klipa

This will be Klima's fifth appearance at the men's worlds. His best record was a 5-7 showing in 2022 at Las Vegas.

GERMANY

Marc Muskatewitz, Benjamin Kapp, Felix Messenzehl, Johannes Scheuerl

It has been a breakout season for the reigning European champions, who are now regulars on the top-flight Grand Slam of Curling circuit.

ITALY

Joel Retornaz, Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman, Mattia Giovanella

This squad will be looking for a strong result as part of the buildup to the Winter Games in Milan/Cortina, Italy, where it will be the host team. Retornaz guided the squad to a bronze medal last