By Ben Hoppe, U.S. curling writer

OGDEN, Utah — Round-robin play at the 2026 World Men’s Curling Championship is just over halfway complete, and the playoff field is starting to take shape. Six teams will make the playoffs, and six nations have started to separate themselves from the pack.

Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Canada, Italy, and the United States sit in prime positions to advance to Friday’s playoffs, while the next pack of nations, led by Germany, have work to do to get themselves back in contention.

After starting the event with two close losses, Scotland has looked like one of the hottest teams in the field, looking every bit of the fifth-ranked team in the world. They were not discouraged by the first day of their first world championship.

“We actually felt like we played quite well,” Scottish skip Ross Whyte said on Saturday. “We could have easily come out on the right side of both games.”

2026 World Men's Curling Championship: Up-to-date standings and latest results

Scotland rebounded with dominant wins over potential playoff opponents over the next few days, including a seven-end victory over Canada on Saturday and a six-end victory over Italy on Monday.

Scotland has been bolstered by a strong contingent of family and friends who have made the trip across the pond to cheer on Whyte. Before each afternoon and evening draw, a nation is honoured, and the Scotland fans sang their national anthem loud and proud on Sunday afternoon.

To have them here cheering on all five members of the team who have gotten on the ice already in the tournament has made a major impact on the team. After Sunday’s game, Whyte reflected on how special it has been to have them here for their first world championship.

“We don’t get many people, our family and friends, out to every event. I said it at the Scottish championships how special it was to be there for us when we managed to win it this year. And then to go on and then have them here, it’s just an amazing feeling. They’re bringing loads of noise, it’s really good. They seem to be having a lot of fun," Whyte said.

Watching ice conditions

Early in the championship, nearly all the players were lauding the ice conditions. Most found the ice to be predictable and consistent, and any issues seemed to be limited to some specific rocks across the sheets. Icemakers were fortunate to have consistent temperatures outside the arena, with warm, sunny temperatures nearly every day for the past two weeks.

That all is about to change, however, as rain is forecast Tuesday night through Thursday. It’s possible that the icemakers will be able to navigate the challenges presented by outside conditions, but players have already begun to see some frostier and more variable conditions in the morning draws.

Rocks could also become a factor for the Wednesday and Thursday draws if the icemakers decide to resurface the stones. Tuesday is the last possible day for the rocks to be textured, allowing teams time to make necessary adjustments ahead of the playoffs.

“I hope … they don't overly scratch them because the ice has been so incredible,” American skip John Shuster said on Tuesday afternoon. “You can throw rocks with a lot of confidence and not have to guess what the ice is going to do.”

The combination of weather and resurfaced rocks has the potential to make for some chaotic results as teams jockey for playoff positioning, but it could also be a non-factor with how well the ice crew has navigated conditions so far.

Staying fresh

The 2026 event is the final iteration of the current 13-team world championship format. Canadian skip Matt Dunstone has referred multiple times to the long week as a “meat-grinder,” with teams playing 12 games over seven days, sometimes with just a two-hour break between games.

Finding ways to stay fresh and rested is key, particularly for teams that will add another two games on Friday in the first day of playoffs.

Many players are either nursing aches and pains from the grind of a long season and a long event, or they’re just trying to maintain where they’re at physically and keeping themselves rested to survive the week. The sunny weather to start the event was helpful for relaxing outside of the arena between draws.

“We just try to rest as much as we can when we have some downtime,” said American third Chris Plys.

Plys also mentioned they have USA Curling’s athletic trainer with them to help keep them loose and feeling good throughout the week.

The United States is one of many countries that have brought someone with them to help deal with the grind. Swiss second Simon Gloor credited their physiotherapist for getting blood flowing after their hard work, but noted that staying fresh throughout the week was also a result of work that started long before they came to Utah.

“To be honest, at this point, most of the work was done in the past. We did a lot of physical work too over the season," he said.