Brad Jacobs

Biography

Brad Jacobs made his Olympic debut at Sochi 2014 as the skip of the team that won Canada’s third straight Olympic gold medal in men’s curling. His team, which also included third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, posted a 7-2 round robin record in Sochi, before defeating China 10-6 in the semifinal and Great Britain 9-3 in the final. They had started the Olympic tournament with a 1-2 record, but an honest team chat sparked them to run the table the rest of the way.

Jacobs has represented Canada at two World Men’s Curling Championships, winning silver in 2013 and then a bronze in his return with a different team 12 years later in 2025.

Representing Northern Ontario

Jacobs began playing with his Sochi 2014 teammates in the 2012-13 season and enjoyed immediate success, winning the first Brier title for Northern Ontario since 1985 and adding a world championship silver medal.

Jacobs made his first appearance at the Brier in 2007 when he was just 21. In 2008 he attended the Brier as the fifth on a team skipped by Eric Harnden, which also included his sons E.J. and Ryan, who are Jacobs’ cousins. In 2009 Jacobs took over the skipping duties with E.J. at third and Ryan at second. The trio competed at the Brier in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2010, with Caleb Flaxey at lead, they finished second in the round robin at the Brier, becoming the first team from Northern Ontario to qualify for the playoffs since 1993, and won the bronze medal. In April 2012, the team brought on Fry as the new third, shifting E.J. Harnden to second and Ryan Harnden to lead.

Despite their national and international success, Team Jacobs was not directly qualified to the 2013 Canadian Curling Trials. They had to go through the pre-trials bonspiel, from which they were the very last qualifiers for the Trials. The team went on to post a perfect 7-0 record in round robin play at the Trials, giving them a bye to the final where they beat Team John Morris 7-4.

The foursome stayed together through the 2018-19 season. In that time, they finished as the runners-up at the 2015 Brier and won bronze medals at the 2016 and 2019 Briers. For the 2019-20 season, Marc Kennedy replaced Fry at third. The new look Team Jacobs won three straight Grand Slam events in 2019-20 and made it to the 3-4 page playoff game at the 2020 Brier. They finished as the runners-up at the 2021 Canadian Curling Trials after missing a chance to tie the final in the 10th end.

Representing Alberta

In March 2022, Jacobs announced that he would step back from competitive curling. But in the spring of 2023, he joined Team Reid Carruthers as the third for the rest of the Grand Slam season. The following season, Jacobs became the skip of that team, representing Manitoba. But after just one season, he left to skip a new team based in Alberta, which included Marc Kennedy at third, Brett Gallant at second, and Ben Hebert at lead.

They had an impressive first season together in 2024-25, finishing second at two Grand Slam events before becoming Brier champions. That sent Jacobs off to his first world championship in over a decade. The team went 11-1 in the round robin but lost to eventual world champions Scotland (skipped by Bruce Mouat) in the semifinals. They rebounded to defeat China 11-2 in the bronze medal game.

As Team Canada, Team Jacobs competed at the 2025 Pan Continental Curling Champions. After going 7-0 in the round robin, they went on to win the gold medal.

A Little More About Brad

Getting into the Sport: Started curling at age 10 and began competing at age 12… Outside Interests: Works as a senior marketing director… Earned his Bachelor of Arts in geography from Algoma Univerrsity… Odds and Ends: Nickname: Cups… Favourite Olympic memories include Kevin Martin’s team winning Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010 and Donovan Bailey winning 100m gold at Atlanta 1996… Favourite quote: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing…