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Men's curling has once again crowned its historic powerhouse. In a tension-filled final inside the historic ice arena of Cortina, Team Canada, led by skip Brad Jacobs, defeated Great Britain's squad, headed by Bruce Mouat, with a final score of 9-6, a team that had hoped to end a long drought.
This victory not only gives Canada its only gold medal in this sport at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Games, but also marks the nation's return to the top of the men's podium for the first time since Sochi 2014.
For Jacobs, the closing of this cycle is poetic. After also defeating the British in the 2014 final, the Canadian missed the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Games after failing to get through the national trials. His triumphant return has prevented Great Britain from ending a 102-year wait for gold, keeping the British count stalled since their inaugural success at Chamonix 1924.
Overcoming the "double touch" storm
The Canadians' path - a team made up of Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert, and Tyler Tardi - was not without off-ice drama, and some tried to tarnish the success following the controversy that arose in the early days of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
During the round-robin stage, several players were accused of "double-touching," a rules violation that occurs when a player touches the stone after releasing it. This issue lingered for several days within the competition and overshadowed other activities.
Tension erupted when Sweden's Oskar Eriksson accused Kennedy of breaking the rules, prompting an angry response from the Canadian. After a subsequent loss to Switzerland, the team managed to stabilize emotionally to reach the final. In the ninth end of the gold medal match, Canada capitalized on a mistake by Mouat to score three decisive points that sealed the outcome of the contest.
Success in both divisions for the maple leaf
Saturday was a day of complete redemption for Canadian curling. Hours before Jacobs' victory, Rachel Homan's women's team, ranked number one in the world, secured the bronze medal by defeating the United States 10-7. Despite the disappointment of falling to Sweden in the semifinals, the Canadians showed resilience after a turbulent 1-3 start in the qualifying round.
At the end of their participation, Homan reflected the country's fighting spirit at these Games: "I'm really proud of our week and our fight. We were never giving up right to the end, pulling for each other and when things were hard we just pulled closer together and tried to figure out how to make the next one".
For his part, Bruce Mouat, part of the Great Britain team, lamented losing the game considering he believed they had the upper hand.
"I'm a bit in shock. We felt like we were the better team. I don't know what to say," Mouat told the BBC. Meanwhile, Grant Hardie recalled the painful episode they also experienced in Beijing 2022. "The pain from four years ago was so strong that we wanted to try again. We gave ourselves a chance, but unfortunately we couldn't do it again."
With the men's gold and the women's bronze, Canada reaffirms its status as a world powerhouse.