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.
