 Team Brad Jacobs (Photo: World Curling) win Canada's first gold medal in men's curling since 2014. By: Cameron Sallaj For the first time since 2014, Team Canada is standing on top of the Olympic podium in men's curling. After grinding through nine round robin games and an extra end semifinal, the Canadian team of Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert defeated world number one ranked Great Britain 9-6 in the gold medal matchup. It was a tight game all the way through between the Jacobs and Mouat rinks with neither team letting the other get the upper hand. Sharp shooting in the first two ends by Great Britain was negated by a deuce by Canada to give them the edge 3-2. Then after swapping singles to close out the second half, the British skip executed a cross-house double to score two and put the Brits ahead again 5-4. After forcing Great Britain to one in the eighth end, Canada took advantage of the first series of errors from GB in nine after neither Bobby Lammie nor Grant Hardie could make a double takeout. This allowed Canada to hit for three, putting them 8-6 ahead coming home and in firm control of the game. Needing two to keep their gold medal hopes alive, Bruce Mouat was narrow on his final double takeout attempt and was unable to remove the Canadian rock from scoring position. In the end, Canada stole one and recorded a final victory of 9-6. It is a first gold medal in curling for the Canadian men since 2014 when Jacobs himself skipped his team of Ryan Fry and E. J. and Ryan Harnden to victory in Sochi. In that final, Jacobs also defeated Great Britain, who was skipped by David Murdoch, 9-3. Now, 12 years later, Jacobs, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert join Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris as two-time Olympic gold medalists for Canada. In addition, Kennedy becomes the Canadian Olympic curler with the most medals with two gold (2010, 2026) and one bronze (2022). This Jacobs team was initially formed for the 2022-23 season in a lineup that included Brendan Bottcher at the helm. After two seasons, however, Kennedy, Gallant and Hebert replaced Bottcher with Jacobs in an attempt to set the team up for a chance at Olympic gold. In the end, the switch paid off, with Jacobs guiding the Canadian men to the top of the podium for a second time, becoming the only Canadian skip in Olympic history to do so. While his three team members had enjoyed the feeling of Olympic gold before, Brett Gallant had yet to experience it. As a member of Team Gushue, he won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2022 and subsequently missed the podium in the mixed doubles competition in Cortina. He now joins the list of Olympic gold medalists for Canada which not only includes his current and former teammates but also the likes of Sandra Schmirler, Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones. For Team Mouat, they suffer a second straight loss in an Olympic final after coming up short to Sweden's Niklas Edin in 2022. Currently ranked number one in the world, the team dominated the quadrennial with two World Championship and European titles in addition to seven Grand Slam victories. While they were not able to take home the gold, this team is sure to be around in four years' time for another crack at the top of the podium. Team Canada finished 7-2 through the round robin at the 2026 Winter Olympics, losing to Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller and Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell. Advancing to the playoffs as the number two seeds, the team got their revenge against Norway 5-4 in the semifinal before defeating Great Britain 9-6 to win the Olympic gold medal. |
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Team Brad Jacobs (Photo: World Curling) win Canada's first gold medal in men's curling since 2014.
