Canada’s Brad Jacobs beats Great Britain to secure playoff spot at the Olympics

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO – After a week of tough round-robin play and a list of distractions too long to count, the Canadian men’s curling team cleared a big hurdle Tuesday by securing a playoff spot at the Winter Olympics.

A 9-5 victory over top-ranked Bruce Mouat of Great Britain gave Canada a 6-1 record and guaranteed spot in the final four.

On the heels of a wild newsmaking weekend, the Calgary-based side was proud of what it hopes will be several accomplishments at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

“Bring it on,” Jacobs said. “There’s nothing this team can’t handle. We can handle anything.”

Vice-skip Marc Kennedy’s profanity-laced interaction with Swedish third Oskar Eriksson on Friday night went viral. It kicked off a discussion about ‘double-touching’ rocks and a World Curling umpire setup change and eventual walkback. 

Olympic experience has paid off for Jacobs, Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert this week. Three of the four are Olympic champions and all of them have been to the Games at least once. 

They know what to expect on the sport’s biggest stage and how to handle challenges that may come up along the way. 

“I’m of the mindset that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Jacobs said. “No matter what happens in this Olympics and what the end result is, I’m going to be proud of the way that we’ve handled ourselves and represented Canada this week.”

A back-and-forth game between two of the best teams in the world turned when Jacobs scored three points in the seventh end. Two steals followed and Canada had booked its ticket for the final four.

“You’ve got to be sharp against these guys and if you’re not, then you’re going to get punished,” said Mouat, who just 69 per cent on the night.

Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller beat Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz 8-4 to improve to 7-0. Joel Retornaz of Italy beat American Daniel Casper 8-5 and Sweden’s Niklas Edin topped Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell 7-4.

Retornaz closed out his win shortly before the Canadian game ended. The near-capacity crowd at the 3,450-seat facility roared when the host team sealed the victory.

Hebert and Gallant were standing together at the side of the sheet and couldn’t help but take in the moment.

“That rivals Vancouver 2010 and we were the home team,” Hebert said. “So that was amazing. I would say there was probably seven or eight shots where we couldn’t hear a damn thing. I had the goosebumps popping up my arms and my hair was standing up.”

Italy and Norway were tied for third place at 4-3 while Great Britain and the U.S. were outside the cutline at 4-4 with two sessions remaining. 

Canada shot 85 per cent for the game while Great Britain was at 78 per cent.

“That is an unbelievable team,” Kennedy said. “They have set the bar for curling over the past four or five years. I know it’s been a bit of a struggle for them this week, but man, the sport has changed because of how good they are.”

After four straight days of questions about swearing, double-touching, umpires, rules, and distractions, Kennedy’s interview session focused on actual curling for a change.

“I’m just waiting for the nuclear questions,” he said with a smile.

They never came. The focus has instead shifted to the days ahead, including a matchup with Italy on Wednesday and the round-robin finale on Thursday morning against Norway.

The semifinals are set for Thursday night. The bronze-medal game will be played Friday and the gold-medal game is set for Saturday. 

Jacobs was the last Canadian skip to win men’s team gold at the Games. He reached the top of the podium at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia with a different team.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2026.