![\"Brett](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262338888-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCORTINA D\u2019AMPEZZO, Italy \u2014 Brad Jacobs\u2019 teammates called him \u201ca killer\u201d after the semi-finals, and on Saturday evening in Cortina, he took out Great Britain to win his second Olympic gold medal and a fifth men\u2019s curling title for Canada.<\/p>\n
His opposite number, Bruce Mouat, threw the last stone, but Jacobs and his teammates were already hugging each other when it was halfway down the sheet. They had seen enough. Mouat needed a miracle, and it was not coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played a really good last end, and I knew before Bruce\u2019s last one that the game was over,\u201d said Canada\u2019s Ben Hebert. \u201cThe smiles crept in, and it was pretty special. It was a tough battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sealed a 9-6 victory for Canada that looked very unlikely half an hour before when\u00a0Mouat, arguably the best shot-maker on the planet, uncorked another double take-out to give the British a 5-4 lead after six ends.<\/p>\n
But Jacobs and his teammates did not blink. They traded single-point ends with the Brits over the next two frames to go into the penultimate end still a point down but with last-stone advantage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Canada\u2019s Brett Gallant and Great Britain skip Bruce Mouat shake hands after the game. (Marco Bertorello \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
It is a position Jacobs and his veteran crew have been in many times before, and they played it beautifully. With Mouat\u2019s two stones still to play, GB called a timeout to talk through their options. Canada had three stones in scoring positions, and they were spread across the house, like a split in bowling.<\/p>\n
Did Mouat have another rabbit in his hat? No, he did not. And having so expertly set up a winning position, Jacobs was not going to spurn it. The only consolation for GB was that Jacobs was an inch or two away from taking four in the ninth end, not three.<\/p>\n
That gave Canada an 8-6 lead going into the last end. Mouat, the 2023 and 2025 world champion, would have the last stone, though. So, there was a gold medal still to be claimed.<\/p>\n
And that is precisely what Jacobs did. The 40-year-old was the winning skip in 2014 \u2014 the last time Canada won the title \u2014 and teammates Hebert and Marc Kennedy were on the gold medal-winning team in 2010. Proven winners, then.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on in that game, we had to really weather the storm,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cWe were a little bit off, and they were outplaying us. But I had a really strong feeling that if we could get that game into the later stages, things would turn our way. And sure enough, they did.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Mouat and Great Britain, the long wait goes on. Team GB\u2019s only triumph in this competition came at the first Winter Olympics in 1924. It is back-to-back silver medals for Mouat, after losing in an extra end in 2022. He also finished fourth in the mixed doubles here, after topping the round-robin phase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to win it for each other,\u201d Hardie said. \u201cThe pain from four years ago was that much, we thought let\u2019s go and give it another go. We gave ourselves the chance. So much good work to try and redeem ourselves, but unfortunately, we\u2019ve not got there again.\u201c<\/p>\n
At 31, Mouat is young and talented enough to come back. Just look at Jacobs. He waited 12 years between triumphs, and he might not be finished yet, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne-hundred per cent,\u201d Mouat said of his intention to return. \u201cI love this game, I love my teammates. I\u2019m not done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Canada, the win put a satisfying cap on a tournament that started with some drama. In the Canadians\u2019 third game of the round-robin phase, Kennedy got into a heated dispute with the Swedish team<\/a> after they claimed he had been illegally touching the stones on his throws.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll probably be on a social media blackout for the rest of my life after what I\u2019ve experienced this week,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n