GRAND FORKS – Thomas Ulsrud of Norway repeated his 2006 success by capturing the bronze medal at the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship.

The veteran skip added a second medal to his seasonal collection – his team took silver at December's European Championship – with a x-x victory over China's Fengchun Wang in the bronze medal match at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Deadlocked at 2-2 after five ends, Norway exploded for five unanswered points in the sixth and seventh ends, through a three-count and a steal of two. China scored a single in the eighth and after Norway scored one more in the ninth, the Chinese conceded the match.

"It's a big deal for Norway," said Ulsrud.

"I think people are happy back home, we had a new team and a good week. Maybe we can get some good funding (with the bronze).

"Third place? I would take that, if you asked me before the week.

"We're gonna party this weekend." 

For China, 2008 marked an enormous leap forward. The country has been curling for just a decade, and with a fourth-place finish in their very first World appearance, China's men's team have scored nine Olympic Qualification Points toward the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

"We have confidence now to play better at the Worlds," said Wang, through an interpreter.

"We had two losses the first day and we lost confidence. Then we beat Canada and then win four in a row. It's a perfect week."

Tomorrow's championship final between Scotland's David Murdoch and Canada's Kevin Martin begins at 1:30pm Central Daylight Time (CT).

Numerous television groups are delivering live and tape-delayed action, plus highlight packages, to world curling fans. Eurosport, CBC/CBCSports.ca/Bold (Canada), NBCOlympics.com and WCSN (United States) and CurlTV are all on site in Grand Forks.

Live results, with linescores and shooting percentages, are available via: worldmenscurling2008.com with mirrored scores also posted at: results.worldcurling.org