MONCTON, N.B. April 12, 2009 (CCA) — Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud has won his third bronze medal at the 2009 Ford world men’s curling championship, and his first outside the United States.

Ulsrud’s team from the Snarøen Curling Club in Oslo — third Torger Nergård, second Christoffer Svae, lead Håvard Vad Petersson, alternate Thomas Løvold, coach Ole Ingvaldsen — defeated Markus Eggler of Switzerland 6-4 in the bronze-medal game on a snowy Sunday afternoon at the Moncton Coliseum.

The Norwegians, who also finished third in 2006 at Lowell, Mass., and two years later at Grand Forks, N.D., found themselves down 4-3 through seven ends, but Ulsrud took out a Swiss counter to put a go-ahead deuce on the board in the eighth.

And in the ninth, Norway stole an insurance point when Ulsrud made a perfect hit-and-roll behind a centre guard, and Switzerland’s last-rock thrower Ralph Stoeckli couldn’t execute an in-off for a point.

“People back home are going to be really happy now with us coming home with a medal,” said Ulsrud. “As long as you play the bronze-medal game, I hate to lose it. It’s a big boost for us; we can leave here and be happy and start working for next season, which is a big season.”