 It'll be a battle between two of the world's best for the 2026 Olympic gold medal. By: Cameron Sallaj It's down to just two teams on the men's side at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games as Team Bruce Mouat of Great Britain will meet Team Brad Jacobs of Canada in the gold medal game. Both teams took different paths to qualify for the semifinals, however once they got there, both teams accomplished the goal of advancing to the Olympic final. For the world number one ranked British team of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, they had a rocky road to reach the knockout round. It did not appear this way in the first half of the week though, as the team recorded wins in four of their first five games. After falling to Switzerland in their sixth game, the Mouat rink went on a three-game skid with two more losses to Norway and Canada. With their gold medal hopes hanging in the balance at 4-4, the team came out firing to defeat the United States in their final round robin game and, with favorable results in other games, advance to the playoff round. As the fourth seeds, the reigning Olympic silver medalists matched up with top seed and previously undefeated Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller in the semifinal. This was a rematch of last year's world championship final which Mouat won; however, Switzerland was the class of the field all week and showed no signs of slowing down. Starting with the hammer, Switzerland got the first points on the board with two in the second before Great Britain tied the score with two of their own in the third. The Swiss team then split for two in the fourth end before Mouat was forced to one in the fifth after over curling on a tap-back attempt. With a chance to break the game open in the sixth, Swiss fourth Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel ticked his own stone in the top eight and gave up a steal. Despite missing this chance, it looked like Switzerland would put those points on the board in the seventh end until Bruce Mouat's last where the British skip played a runback triple takeout to lie three and force Switzerland to just one. This ultimately proved to be the turning point in the match that led to the British victory.
Having breathed new life into his team with his shot in seven, Mouat took his first lead of the game with a draw for two in the eighth end for a go ahead 6-5 lead. Switzerland would then blank nine to retain last rock in the tenth where, facing two British counters, they could not make the angle tap-back to score the win. Great Britain took two from the end and won in a final score of 8-5. To get to the gold medal, Great Britain will have to get past the Canadian squad of Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, a team that has shown steady consistency across the week. Ranked number five in the world, Team Jacobs got off to a good start to the Games with three straight wins before suffering their first loss to Switzerland, a game where the Swiss team were near flawless. This did not faze the Canadians, however, who got back on track with wins in their next four games, including Great Britain, to sit 7-1 and punch their ticket to the playoff round as the number two seeds. Facing Norway in their final round robin game Thursday morning, Team Canada got down 7-2 after five ends, ultimately losing the game 8-6. This result set up a rematch between the two rinks in the semifinal as Norway improved to 5-4 with the victory. From the jump, Canada had control of the game and never relinquished it, leading all the way through the eleven ends played. After being forced to one in the second, Team Jacobs took the only steal of the game in the third when Norwegian skip Magnus Ramsfjell wrecked on a guard on a blank attempt. Norway then scored their first point in the fourth end to cut the lead in half. Following another blank in five, Canada scored another single in the sixth to reclaim a two-point lead. The low scoring affair continued into the seventh as Norway blanked before being forced to one in eight. After Canada put one more on the board in nine, they took a 4-2 lead into the tenth end with Norway holding the hammer. Needing two to send the game into an extra end, the Norwegian team got their chance when Brad Jacobs only removed one of their counters on a double takeout attempt to end the game. This did not affect Canada, however, as they played a masterful eleventh end to force Ramsfjell into a difficult in-off on his last to keep his team alive. His stone overcurled, and spun up and out of scoring position with Jacobs not needing to throw his final rock. Canada secured the victory 5-4 and advanced to the gold medal game. The men's final between Great Britain and Canada will be a battle for the ages with both teams being two of the most dominant forces across the past two years. For Great Britain's Team Mouat, they are looking to go one step better than they did in 2022 when they lost in the gold medal game to Sweden. For Canada's Team Jacobs, it's a chance to reclaim Olympic glory as the last time Canada won gold in the men's competition was in 2014 when Jacobs himself defeated Great Britain's David Murdoch. No matter the result, it will be a game remembered by curling and sporting fans for years to come. The men's gold medal game goes Saturday at 1 pm ET while the bronze medal game between Switzerland and Norway will be played at the same time Friday. |
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It'll be a battle between two of the world's best for the 2026 Olympic gold medal.
