Team Jacobs’ path to gold at Milano Cortina 2026

Experience won’t be a problem for Team Brad Jacobs at Milano Cortina 2026.

For the first time in history, Canada will be represented by a four-person curling team with all members of the rink having previous Olympic experience.

The 40-year-old Jacobs was the last Canadian male skip to capture Olympic gold, accomplishing the feat 12 years ago in Sochi, Russia.

Marc Kennedy, who at age 44 will be oldest Canadian athlete at these Olympics, and long-time teammate Ben Hebert, 42, won gold alongside Kevin Martin on home soil at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver before finishing fourth at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, playing for Kevin Koe.

Brett Gallant, 35, helped Team Brad Gushue claim the bronze medal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Team Jacobs was formed following the 2023-24 season with the sole intention of getting to this point.

Although, looking back at the start of this quadrennial, it would have been hard to predict this foursome would emerge as Canada’s representative.

Kennedy, Gallant and Hebert joined forces with Brendan Bottcher ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, with many expecting this new-look rink to contend at every major event over the next four years.

Meanwhile, Jacobs announced he was stepping back from the curling following the 2022 Brier in Lethbridge, Alta.

His break didn’t last very long, however.

After back-to-back third place finishes at the Brier, Bottcher was cut from the squad following the 2023-24 season and later replaced by Jacobs, who had returned to play with Reid Carruthers that season.

Jacobs and Kennedy had previously played a number of years together and were a win away from representing Canada at the 2022 Olympics, dropping the Trials final to Team Gushue.

The new-look Jacobs put up some nice results in the early portion of the 2024-25 season before peaking at the Montana’s Brier in Kelowna last winter.

After going 7-1 in the round robin, Team Jacobs dropped the 1 vs. 2-page playoff qualifier to Team Gushue, forcing them to win four elimination games for the right to hoist the Brier Tankard.

They did just that, beating Team Owen Purcell in 3 vs. 4-page playoff qualifier, Team Reid Carruthers in the 3 vs. 4-game, Team Gushue, featuring Bottcher at second, in the semifinal, and finally, Team Matt Dunstone in the championship game.

“Unbelievable, unbelievable,” Jacobs said after the game. “It’s relieving. It’s been too long since I’ve won this championship. I’ve only got two now, but I said earlier in the week that it would take a lot of pressure off the rest of my career. I hope that’s the case.”

Team Jacobs wore the Maple Leaf in Moose Jaw at the World Men’s Curling Championship. They put together a strong week before settling for bronze after routing China’s Team Xu Xiaoming, who will also compete at the Winter Olympics this year.

Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat showed why they’re the No. 1-ranked team in the world, beating Team Jacobs in the semifinal before topping Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the gold-medal contest.

By the time they entered November’s Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax, Team Jacobs was a well-oiled machine.

The Calgary rink dropped their opening game against Team Kevin Koe, but not another, eventually sweeping Team Dunstone in the best-of-three final to punch their ticket to Cortina.

Overall, Team Jacobs is 39-13 in 2025-26, picking up wins at the Trials, ATB Okotoks Classic and Pan Continental Curling Championship. Since their triumph at the Canadian Curling Trials in November, Jacobs’ rink lost in the quarter-final round of the Canadian Open Grand Slam in December before missing the playoffs with a 1-4 record at the Players’ Championship in January, the final event of the 2025-26 Slam season.

“Do you think we’re a team who cares about who the favourite is? Or who people think the favourite is? Where do I think we fit? Well, I’ll tell you, after the day I had today at the gym and at that practice, I feel like we fit right at or near the top, which is right where I would expect us to feel like we fit,” Jacobs said in a recent media availability. “I mean, this is a confident group of guys. We work really, really hard. I think it’s the preparation and the things behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t see that bring that confidence to this group.”

Let’s look at Team Jacobs’ path to gold at Milano Cortina 2026.

Germany (Team Marc Muskatewitz)

Feb. 11 at 1:05 p.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 23

Canada opens their tournament against 30-year-old Marc Muskatewitz and his team of Olympic rookies from Germany.

This young foursome has competed together at the past two World Men’s Curling Championships, losing in opening round of the playoffs in 2024 before finishing with a 5-7 record last year in Moose Jaw.

Their most impressive victory came at the 2024 European Curling Championship when they defeated Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat in the final, capturing Germany’s first gold medal at event since 2004.

As the defending champs, Team Muskatewitz just missed the playoffs with a 6-3 record at this year’s Euros.

Overall, Team Muskatewitz is a mediocre 26-26 this season with no event wins and one playoff appearance across four Grand Slams.

Jacobs is 4-0 against Muskatewitz all-time, including a 9-2 romp at the Canadian Open in December.

Canada will have the upper hand in their opener against a young German squad getting its first taste of Olympic curling action.

United States (Team Daniel Casper)

Feb. 13 at 3:05 a.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 7

Following their game against Germany, Canada gets a day off before taking on the United States.

USA Curling appears to be going through a changing of the guard on the men’s side.

After John Shuster represented the United States at five straight Olympics, highlighted by that historic gold-medal win in 2018, a new skip will lead the Americans on the biggest stage in curling.

At just 24, Daniel Casper will be the youngest skip in Cortina. The members of his Minneapolis-based team are all the under the age of 28.

Casper and company qualified for the Olympics by first beating Team Shuster 2-1 in a best-of-three final series at the United States Olympic Curling Trials. Then it was off to Kelowna in December where they claimed one of the last two spots remaining at the Olympic Qualification Event.

Team Casper is 43-25 in 2025-26, winning the Masters Tier 2 Grand Slam and the Henderson Metal Fall Classic. They went a combined 2-7 over two Slams leading into the Olympics.

Casper’s crew are ranked seventh in the world, fifth highest among the teams set to compete in Cortina.

Jacobs and Casper have never played each other.

Facing another team of Olympic rookies, Canada will have the edge again. Team Casper might be in the playoff mix by week’s end given their strong, battled-tested season to this point.

Sweden (Team Niklas Edin)

Feb. 13 at 1:05 p.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 12

The tournament ramps up for Canada in their third game as Team Jacobs will take on the defending Olympic champs in Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin.

Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana and Christoffer Sundgren have played together since the 2016-17 season as Milano Cortina 2026 will be their third Olympics as a foursome. They were upset by Team John Shuster of United States in the 2018 Olympic final.

Edin, who is now a five-time Olympian, also owns a bronze from 2014.

The Karlstad native has won an incredible seven World Men’s Curling Championships, including five with his current teammates.

His very first, however, was against Jacobs in 2013. The Swede got the better of the Canadian, who was fresh off winning his first Brier a few weeks prior, by a score of 8-6 in the final from Victoria, B.C.

All-time, Jacobs holds a 24-15 record against Edin.

Edin is not nearly as dominant as he was four years ago in Beijing.

His side have dropped down to No. 12 in the world this season, posting a 33-25 record with just one quarterfinal appearance across five Grand Slams, including a 0-5 showing at their most recent event at the Players’ Championship in January.

They did win the European Curling Championship, however, the eighth time Edin has claimed that title.

This could very well be Edin’s Olympic swan song. Even if the results haven’t been there as of late, Jacobs knows the Swedish Vikings can turn it on at a moment’s notice.

“If you were to look at pure results internationally across the board, Niklas Edin probably is the greatest of all time,” Jacobs said recently.

Count on this one being a close contest.

Switzerland (Team Yannick Schwaller)

Feb. 14 at 8:05 a.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 2

Canada will square off against world No. 2, Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller, on Valentine’s Day.

In recent history, Switzerland’s men’s curling program has delivered many podium finishes on the international stage, but no gold medals.

This will be the first Olympics for the 30-year-old Schwaller, while the other members of the team have competed in multiple. A bronze in 2018 was their best finish.

Team Schwaller dropped last year’s final at the men’s worlds to Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat. It was a step up from the five bronze medals last rock thrower Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel had won at the event.

The Swiss are having a very impressive 2025-26 campaign, posting a 46-16 record with five final appearances and two wins. They captured the Canadian Open in December, Schwaller’s first Grand Slam title of his career.

Schwaller and Jacobs have been evenly matched over their careers with the Canadian winning six of 10 matches.

There’s a good chance the Swiss will be in the playoff mix by week’s end, but we’ll have to see if this is the event they finally break through on the world stage.

China (Team Xu Xiaoming)

Feb. 15 at 1:05 p.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 11

Team Jacobs dominated China’s Team Xu Xiaoming in the bronze-medal game at last year’s World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw.

“Curl good and run them out of the building,” lead Ben Hebert said of the 11-2 rout. “Those guys can’t keep up with us.”

The pointed post-game comments came after the Chinese were accused of intentionally burning a rock during a playoff win over Norway.

“I don’t know how they beat the teams that they did this week here to finish where they did,” the colourful Hebert added. “But I sure would have liked to get them in the semi. We would have been playing at three o’clock today [in the final]. That’s not a hard one.”

Jacobs defeated Xiaoming in all three of their matchups this season, including twice at the Pan Continental Curling Championship. Jacobs is 5-0 all-time against Xiaoming.

Team Xiaoming, who earned the last entry into Milano Cortina 2026 via the Olympic Qualification Event in December, has a 42-34 record this season, but have not won any events on Tour. They made the semis of January’s Players’ Championship, their best result on the Grand Slam circuit.

This will be the third Olympics for China’s 41-year-old skip, highlighted by a fourth-place finish in 2014, playing third for Liu Rui.

The Canadians will be heavily favoured in this matchup as they’ve handled them fairly easily in the past.

Czechia (Team Lukáš Klíma)

Feb. 16 at 8:05 a.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 27

Prague’s Lukáš Klíma is another skip who’ll be making his Olympic debut in Cortina.

The 34-year-old has competed in the past four World Men’s Curling Championships, finishing a career-best 6-6 last year in Moose Jaw. The strong result secured their spot in the Olympics.

Team Klima enters the Olympics with a 36-36 record and were unable to make a single final appearance across a busy 13-event schedule.

Jacobs and Klima have split their two career matchups against each other.

Canada probably can’t afford to drop this one with the race to the final four heating up by this point of the tournament. Czechia will likely find themselves out of the playoff mix by the end of tournament.

Great Britain (Team Bruce Mouat)

Feb. 17 at 1:05 p.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 1

The reigning world men’s curling champions are the team to beat in Cortina.

Bruce Mouat and his Stirling squad dropped the 2022 Olympic final to Sweden’s Team Edin. Since then, all they’ve done is win.

Team Mouat captured world titles in 2023 and 2025, three straight European Championship from 2021 to 2023 as well as seven Grand Slam wins since the last Olympics.

The 31-year-old Mouat is even more dominant against Jacobs, holding a 12-1 record against the Canadian. This round-robin clash will be their first matchup of the season.

“I think they’re raising the bar in curling. And we’re all kind of chasing that bar,” Jacobs said recently. “You got to be really precise against those guys. But we’ve seen that they’re beatable. They’re not superhuman. Nobody is in this sport. It’s curling. [We’re] really looking forward to the challenge of facing them on the biggest stage. We played them in Slams. We played them in the Worlds last year. This is not the same. This is a different level. This is a new level.”

The Scots are 57-12 this season, winning four events, highlighted by a pair of Grand Slams.

Mouat competed in mixed doubles action with partner Jennifer Dodds ahead of the men’s competition.

Jacobs defeated Great Britain’s David Murdoch, now Curling Canada’s high-performance director, to win Olympic gold in Sochi 12 years ago. He’ll likely have to beat the Brits again to stand atop the podium.

This one could provide a good litmus test for Jacobs and company as the two sides may clash again in the playoffs with even more on the line.

Italy (Team Joel Retornaz)

Feb. 18 at 8:05 a.m. ET

World Ranking: 6

Not only will Milano Cortina 2026 be Joel Retornaz’s fourth Olympic appearance, but it will mark the second time he skipped the Italians at an Olympics on home soil.

Twenty years ago, a 21-year-old Retornaz led his side to a respectable 4-5 record in Turin, highlighted by a 7-6 extra end win over the heavily favoured – and eventual gold-medal winning – Canadians, led by Brad Gushue.

A win by Retornaz and Italy over Canada in 2026 won’t be surprising at all.

The Italian curling program has grown considerably over the last two decades, both on the men’s and women’s sides.

After putting up 3-6 records at the 2018 and 2022 Olympics, Team Retornaz has a real shot of reaching the podium in Cortina.

In the first half of the 2023-24 season, Team Retornaz looked like early gold-medal favourites after winning the first three Grand Slams of the campaign and nabbing the world No. 1 ranking. They’ve cooled off considerably since then with no Slam final appearances on their card over the past two seasons.

After winning bronze medals at the 2022 and 2024 World Men’s Curling Championships, Team Retornaz missed the six-team playoffs at last year’s men’s worlds with a 5-7 record.

Team Retornaz is 41-27 on the season, securing playoff spots in four of the five Grand Slams as well as the European Curling Championship.

Jacobs is 4-2 against Retornaz all-time but dropped their most recent matchup at the Players’ Championship last month.

The Italians are coached by Canadian Ryan Fry, who played vice for Jacobs during their gold medal run at the 2014 Olympics in Russia.

The home Italian crowd should be in a rowdy mood for this one as both teams could very well be fighting for their playoff lives.

Norway (Team Magnus Ramsfjell)

Feb. 19 at 3:05 a.m. ET

World Ranking: No. 16

Canada wraps up round-robin play against the Norwegians.

Skipped by 28-year-old Magnus Ramsfjell, all four members of Norway will make their Olympic debuts in Cortina.

They’re 10 games above .500 this season (37-27), picking up wins at the Canadian Open Tier 2 and Norwegian Curling Championship.

Ramsfjell has two playoff appearances across five appearances at the men’s worlds, including last year when he led his side to a 7-5 record. They fell to China in the quarter-final in a game that was marred with controversy after the Chinese had allegedly burnt a stone on purpose.

Jacobs handled Ramsfjell, 8-3, at the men’s worlds in 2025. He’s 2-0 all-time against the Trondheim native.

Norway is probably in the second group of contending teams at this year’s Olympics and will need a lot to go right in order to reach the podium.