Historical gold medal victory for Brad Jacobs and Team Canada
Brad Jacobs and Team Canada soared to an historical victory in men’s curling Saturday.
Pumping their fists, waving to the crowd, hugging their family, it was an emotional scene inside the Cortina Olympic Stadium after Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert defeated Bruce Mouat and Great Britain 9-6 to claim the gold medal at Milano Cortina 2026.
“It’s incredible,” Gallant said of the victory. “To stand on the top of the podium with this team, it’s amazing. We assembled this team with this one goal in mind. That was the hardest game I think I’ve ever curled. One of the hardest opponents in curling, that team, No. 1 team in the world. It was the team dynamic, team unity and support that led to the gold medal.”
The win was Canada’s first curling gold medal since Jacobs won the men’s event and Jennifer Jones won the women’s event back at Sochi 2014. Jacobs is now the only men’s skip to have won two Olympic gold medals.
“Someone had to do it and I was really hoping we could take advantage of the opportunity before us and we did, so I’m just proud of my guys,” said Jacobs, adding that the moment would not have happened without the unwavering support of everyone behind the scenes.
“Can’t thank them enough. Without them this wouldn’t have happened.”
Kennedy, at 44 the oldest Canadian competitor in the Games, becomes Canada’s most decorated curler, now with two golds and a bronze.
It is also the second gold for Hebert who was with Kennedy on the Kevin Martin team that won in 2010. For Gallant, who won bronze in 2022 with Brad Gushue, it is his first gold.
“I’m proud to be Canadian,” added Jacobs. “Proud to step back on top of that podium again. It’s been 12 years. Curling is Canada’s sport and I think we just proved that again today.”
The championship game was a heavyweight match between two of the top men’s teams in the world: Mount is ranked No. 1 and Jacobs No. 5. Both teams showed off their world-class talents with raised double take-outs, delicate draws, perfectly executed hit-and-rolls and excellently positioned stones that forced both skips into a rash of difficult shots they made look easy.
Neither team could shake the other enough to gain any noticeable difference on the scoreboard until Canada broke through to score a game-changing three in the ninth end. Knowing their chances of victory were slim if they went into the tenth end tied or trailing without hammer, Jacobs and his teammates filled the house with Canadian stones.
Four consecutive missed doubles by Great Britain set Canada up to score the critical three. Mouat was forced to try to freeze to Canada’s shot rock but came up inches short. That gave Jacobs the chance to chip it out for four. His shooter rolled out and Canada settled for three and an 8-6 lead going into the tenth.
Canada put four stones into the top of the house and Great Britain couldn’t find a solution to the problem facing them. Wanting to eliminate the chance of Great Britain getting a multiple score, Jacobs made a tight double to eliminate two of Mouat’s stones in the house and followed with another double. That left only one British stone in the house and Canada sitting two, nearly frozen together. Mouat’s attempt to get the two failed and Canada had its gold medal.
