Humboldt's Dustin Kalthoff and curling partner Marliese Kasner continue to slide smoothly at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Karlstad, Sweden.

After completing the round robin with a record of 6-0, it was the game against China that Kalthoff says he and Kasner have really started to make it all click.

"I think we really started to peak as a team in our game against China. We played very well," he stated. "We continued that excellent play against Australia. We only let them score one point."

Momentum from a perfect standing in preliminary play was continued Friday morning as they took on New Zealand in the Round of 16.

After scoring four points in the first end, they added a pair in the third end, cruising to a 12-2 win to book their spot in the quarter-finals. Kalthoff curled 98% in the game, adding that Kasner also had her best game of the tournament.

"Our goal was to continue our play and keep improving in the little ways we think we can and putting our best effort on the ice and keeping our momentum up," Kalthoff beamed. "We're just playing at an awesome level right now. We're really understanding the ice and the stones, and everything is feeling really good right now."

Kalthoff's original partner for the Mixed Doubles was to be Sherry Anderson. The duo won the provincial championship, but Anderson also had the honour to represent Saskatchewan at the Canadian Senior playdowns.

That's when he connected with Kasner, and despite only playing four games together prior to nationals in Saskatoon, they have made it work.

"We took a look at where our game was at the national championship, and worked hard on those areas in long practices, pretty much every day," Kalthoff noted. "Here at world's, we have literally gotten better in every single game. We're not the team we were at nationals, and that is really exciting for us."

Support is a big part of any athlete's world, and for Kalthoff, it is no different as his parents Kevin and Lois, as well as some other friends made the trek to Sweden.

"They're absolutely awesome people. We couldn't ask to have a better support system. It makes a huge difference," he exclaimed. "It makes us feel like we're at home, even though we're not at home, and we're not missing Canada and everybody at home as much, and obviously it would be a challenge to communicate with everybody with the time change."

"Everybody is going nuts with cowbells, and there is Canada flags, and they're freaking out when we make awesome shots. It just feels fantastic."

Next up for Kalthoff and Kasner is Scotland, who upset the two-time World champions from Hungary.

Asked what the most difficult part of winning the championship will be, Kalthoff stated that jitters and nerves will need to be what they keep in check.

"At this point, I think we know what each sheet is like. We have a set of rocks we like on every sheet. It looks like we will be able to pick rocks for every game moving forward," he said. "We will just try to keep our emotions in check and stay calm, and that's about it."

The game will be played at 11:30am, with semi-finals and finals being played out Saturday.

Hear more from Kalthoff below.