Successful return to the Olympic Games for Brad Jacobs as Canada wins opening game in men’s curling
Brad Jacobs made his return to the Olympic Games after more than a decade a successful, although challenging, one with a 7-6 victory over Marc Muskatewitz of Germany in the opening draw of men’s curling at Milano Cortina 2026.
The Team Canada foursome that includes third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert, had its hands full from the opening few shots through eleven challenging ends that concluded with Jacobs making a relatively easy tap back for a single and the victory.
“That’s a great, young team, strong scrubbing, they made a lot of great shots,” Jacobs said of the German team he has beaten all five times they’ve met through this season. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t think that was going to happen against those guys.
“We’ve seen them on the tours quite a bit — a good, young, strong team. A big win for us to get that under our belt. That’s a must-win game.”
The young German team, playing in its first Olympics, matched Canada shot for shot through two blank ends before they could set the house to score two in the third.
Canada got two back in the fourth, the first end it had last rock, and stole two in the fifth when Jacobs made a thin pick on his first stone and a tight double takeout on his second. Germany responded with a deuce in six to tie the game 4-4. The teams then traded house-clearing doubles that resulted in Canada blanking the seventh and eighth ends.
Team Canada regained the lead with two in the ninth when Muskatewitz was heavy with his last-rock draw, leaving Jacobs, who won the gold medal in his only previous Olympic appearance in 2014, to draw the eight foot. Again, however, Germany came right back with a pair in the tenth. Jacobs made an excellent draw behind cover, but his skipping counterpart matched that with a tap back takeout that ended with his shooter barely hanging on to the edge of the 12-foot. A measure gave Germany their second point to tie the game for the third time.
Canada needed Jacobs to bail out the team in the extra end. Kennedy, at 44, the oldest Canadian competitor at these Games, was an inch wide with a runback double attempt that eliminated both Canadian stones in the house and left Germany sitting three. Jacobs doubled out two of those with his first stone and was successful on his hit and stick for the win.
“They gave us everything we could handle,” Jacobs said of the German team. “Getting it done in eleven ends is good for us. I think the more we can go deep into games, make the last shot to win like that, the better for us. You want to get comfortable doing that and to do it in Game 1 is great.”
The other first-draw results saw host Italy, skipped by Joel Retornaz, score three in the fifth and two in the ninth to nip 2022 gold medallist Niklas Edin and Team Sweden 7-6; Bruce Mouat and Great Britain beat China’s Xu Xiaoming 9-4, and Daniel Casper led his United States team to an 8-7 victory over Lukáš Klíma of Czechia 8-7.
Team Canada next plays on Friday against China in the morning and Sweden in the evening.
The 10-team round robin runs to Feb. 19 with the top four teams then advancing to the semifinals. The bronze medal game is set for Feb. 20, and the gold medal match the following day.
