Canada, Great Britain Set for Men’s Curling Gold Medal Showdown
February 19, 2026 – Team Brad Jacobs and Team Bruce Mouat will meet for gold.
Canada punched their ticket to the men’s curling final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Thursday, defeating Norway 5-4 in an extra end at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. They’ll face Great Britain — the defending world champions — after Mouat’s rink overcame Switzerland 8-5 in the other semifinal.
It sets up a rematch of the 2025 World Championship final, and one that Canadian second Brett Gallant is relishing. “They’ve been the best team in the world for the last couple of years, and they’re a great team, and I think it’s going to be a great match,” he said. “We start with the hammer, which is going to be nice for us.”
Canada Edges Norway in a Tight Contest
Thursday night’s semifinal between Canada and Norway was a grinding, nervy affair — exactly the kind of game that can go either way right to the final stone.
Canada got off to a steady start, stealing one in the third end when Jacobs made an excellent hit-and-roll and Norwegian skip Magnus Ramsfjell wrecked on the guard trying to chase it. After several blanked ends and measured single scores, the Canadians took a 3-2 lead into the eighth end, where Norway had a brilliant setup that ultimately unravelled on consecutive shots from Marc Kennedy and Martin Sesaker. Kennedy’s angle runback cleared the centre and removed a Norwegian stone from the eight-foot, before Sesaker sailed through the house on a freeze attempt — a costly mistake that surrendered any chance at a deuce.
With Canada up 4-2 heading into the tenth end, Jacobs couldn’t quite finish the job, removing only one of two Norwegian stones with his final rock. That left Ramsfjell a routine draw to tie the game at 4-4 and force an extra end.
In the extra, Jacobs threw a freeze on his first stone to sit two on the button. Ramsfjell’s final attempt — a thin in-off — glanced off shot rock, giving Canada the single and the victory.
“That game was probably the most nervous we’ve been as a group in a long time,” Jacobs told CBC’s Bryan Mudryk after the game. “Good back-and-forth battle… one more big win here and we’d love to come home with gold for Canada.”
Canada shot 88 percent as a team, nine points better than Norway. Lead Ben Hebert was the standout difference-maker, outperforming his counterpart Gaute Nepstad 91-78 percent. Hebert didn’t hold back when asked about his skip. “The guy is an animal. Brad Jacobs is a killer. This week, he’s been an unbelievable player, one of the best players in the world… In my opinion, the very best. And we’re going to need him to keep that up if we’re going to win in a couple days.”
The semifinal win marks Canada’s first in the men’s Olympic curling event since Sochi 2014 — when Jacobs was also skip — after previous squads fell in the knockout round at both PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
Great Britain Survive Switzerland Scare
In the concurrent semifinal, Great Britain — who had squeaked into the playoffs with a 5-4 round-robin record — delivered one of the most dramatic performances of the tournament to eliminate round-robin winners Switzerland 8-5.
Down 3-4 at the halfway mark, the momentum shifted decisively in the sixth end when GB stole one to level the score. Then, in the seventh, skip Bruce Mouat produced what may be the shot of these Games: facing three Swiss stones all sitting in scoring position, he delivered a stunning runback triple to eliminate all three and flip the end, leaving Britain lying three. The moment broke the Swiss and energized the GB bench.
From there, the Britons scored a deuce in the eighth to lead for the first time at 6-5, then added two more in the tenth after Swiss skip Yannick Schwaller’s double takeout attempt fell short.
“Incredible. Very, very proud of the guys for all of us sticking together,” Mouat said after. “It was a tough first five ends, so we knew that we had to do something different, and the vibe changed as soon as we got that steal in the sixth, and we made that shot in the seventh. Making shots like that in a competition like this, in a situation like that — it’s the dream.”
The victory is GB’s second consecutive Olympic medal, and for Mouat — who lost the 2022 Olympic final to Sweden — it’s a chance at the gold he’s been chasing. “It’s just so nice to have the opportunity to now go and hopefully get redemption for four years ago.”
What’s at Stake Saturday
Canada and Great Britain have already met once this week, with Canada winning 9-5 in round-robin play on Tuesday. But both teams know that means little now.
As the 2023 and 2025 world champions, Great Britain enter as the gold medal favourites on paper. Canada will counter with the hammer and a team that has been building momentum through the week.
The men’s gold medal game is set for Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET. The bronze medal game — Switzerland vs. Norway — takes place Friday at 1:05 p.m. ET.
