Nearly perfect Team Switzerland hands Canada its first loss in men’s curling at Milano Cortina 2026
Brad Jacobs and Team Canada suffered their first loss in men’s curling Saturday evening at the hands of Yannick Schwaller and Team Switzerland who were as efficient as a fine Swiss timepiece.
Playing with surgical-like precision the entire game, Schwaller and teammates established themselves as solid medal contenders with an impressive 9-5, nine-end victory over Team Canada at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.
Switzerland, winner of only one Olympic gold medal, in 1998, is now the only unbeaten team on the men’s side at 4-0. Canada slips to 3-1.
“They played fantastic, what can you say?” Canada’s third Marc Kennedy said of the Swiss players. “They got an early lead. Benoit (Schwarz-van Berkel) made everything. I actually felt like we made quite a few shots, just not enough.”
Kennedy admitted the Canadian team struggled a bit through the game with the ice, something they hadn’t really experienced in their two previous games in the Cortina Olympic Stadium.
“But, like Brad said, losses happen for you, not to you, so we’ll learn from some tactics and ice conditions and come out and try to have a better game tomorrow night,” he continued. “We’ve got a little bit of a break here, hopefully I’ll get my voice back a little bit and we’ll just keep grinding. But they played amazing and you know we would expect nothing less from them.”
Until the ninth end, when they were only interested in preventing a Canadian steal, the Swiss foursome was perfect in hammer efficiency, scoring two every time they had last rock, while only allowing a Canadian deuce once.
The Swiss team curled at 92 percent, paced by Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, who throws fourth stones, at 97 and Schwaller at 96 percent. Canada had an 85 percent shooting average, as did Jacobs, and almost every time they had the tiniest mistake Switzerland capitalized.
Both teams were sharp early, leading to the exchange of deuces in the first two ends. A Kennedy failure to remove a guard in the first end opened the door for Switzerland to score its two. Switzerland was threatening to steal in the second, sitting four, until Kennedy redeemed himself with a spectacular quadruple that left Canada with two counters.
Jacobs, who was heard calling the Kennedy shot “unreal,” showed he was just as sharp with a back-of-the-house thin double to get Canada its deuce.
Schwarz-van Berkel ended a Canadian attempt to steal in the third with a delicate tap back that resulted in another two for the Swiss.
Both teams were jumping on any tiny mistake and when Kennedy and Jacobs were just inches short on raise attempts in the fourth, the Swiss, who made all eight shots in the end, upset the scoreboard routine by forcing Canada into a single.
Schwaller and his mates continued scoring deuces in the fifth, the difference being two Canadian half shots compared to eight completely successful shots by the Swiss.
At the break Switzerland was outshooting Canada by ten points, 91 to 81, and the Swiss men were outperforming their Canadian counterparts at every position. Schwaller and Schwarz-van Berkel were both shooting 95 percent.
The Swiss kept methodically dissecting Canada in the sixth, maintaining the score-two-give-up-one routine by forcing Jacobs to draw versus four counters to score a single. Switzerland didn’t miss a shot in the seventh to score two for an 8-4 margin that gave them complete control not only of the scoreboard but of the outcome.
Jacobs and company will play China on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Also on Saturday evening Daniel Casper and the United States beat Germany (Marc Muskatewitz) 8-6; Sweden (Niklas Edin) defeated China (Xu Xiaoming) 6-4 and Czechia (Lukáš Klima) lost 7-4 to Great Britain (Bruce Mouat).
After four draws, Switzerland leads the standings at 4-0 followed by Canada and Great Britain at 3-1; Italy (Joël Retornaz) and Norway (Magnus Ramsfjell) at 2-1; Germany and the U.S. at 2-2, Sweden (Niklas Edin) at 1-3; and China and Czechia at 0-4.
The ten teams each play nine round-robin games with the top four teams then advancing to the semifinals.
