Canada’s Team Jacobs qualifies for playoffs at 2026 Olympics

CORTINA d’AMPEZZO, Italy — Canada’s men’s and women’s team both earned wins at 2026 Winter Olympics against medal-contending teams on Tuesday.

The wins put one team into the playoffs and the other on a continued upward trend heading into the final portion of the round-robin competition at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

Six was the magic number for Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs of Calgary (6-1). Since becoming an official Olympic sport in 1998, any men’s or women’s team that has earned six wins has qualified for the four-team playoffs.

Skip Jacobs, vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Tyler Tardi, team coach Paul Webster, and national coach Jeff Stoughton hit that mark on Tuesday evening with a 9-5 win against Great Britain’s Team Bruce Mouat (4-4).

“We knew that six wins was a big number. It’s been a big number in Olympic men’s curling for many years now,” Jacobs said. “Not only that, Bruce Mouat’s team has had our number for many, many years, my entire career.”

Since 2017, Mouat has a 12-2 record against Jacobs in head-to-head matches. However, the latest result has been the most consequential. Jacobs is well aware that Team Mouat’s fourth loss puts Great Britain – the world number-one ranked team and gold-medal favourites this week – on the outside looking in on a playoff spot.

Canada pulled ahead in the seventh end, scoring three and taking a late-game two-point lead. Team Mouat made a play on six stones in the four-foot but left Canada with two counters. The Canadians sank a third point in for a 7-5 lead and didn’t look back. Great Britain conceded after giving up steals of one in the eighth and ninth ends.

Canada has one game on Wednesday, taking on the Italian team (4-3), skipped by Joel Retornaz, at 8:05 a.m., and will be expecting Italian fans to be loud and boisterous.

With one Canadian team qualified, the other has worked its way into contention.

Canada’s Team Rachel Homan had a statement win on Tuesday afternoon, topping the undefeated Swedish team led by skip Anna Hasselborg 8-6.

The win puts Canada (4-3) in control of its own playoff destiny after starting the week 1-3. It also knocked down the first-place Swedes to 6-1. Despite the loss, Team Hasselborg became the first to qualify for the four-team playoffs.

It also meant the Canadians are gaining momentum heading into the final stretch of the event.

Skip Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown, team coach Heather Nedohin, and national coaches Viktor Kjell and Renée Sonnenberg have won three games in a row to now sit tied for fourth in the standings.

Canada has two games left, against Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini (2-5) on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. (all times Eastern) and Thursday at 8:05 a.m. against South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim (4-3).

Miskew and Wilkes were crucial to a deuce in the second end. They carried Homan’s first stone around traffic and to the button to sit two. Hasselborg missed her hit attempt through a narrow port, and Canada opted not to mess with the setup, throwing its final shot away to score two.

Momentum shifted to Sweden in the fifth. Team Homan missed a double, and left Sweden with a draw for three and the lead. Suddenly, the momentum Canada gained in the first half came to a halt.

Canada gained traction, ultimately turning the tide in favour in the eighth. Sweden was in good position to force until Hasselborg was wide on a guard attempt. It left Homan with a triple takeout to turn the end around. Canada scored two for a one-point lead and took advantage of a Swedish mistake in the ninth, forcing them to one.

“It was a huge moment for us to lie two and flip that (hammer),” Homan said. “You know, I wasn’t quite sold that it was there. After the rocks had been textured, they were welded, seven-eighths high, so it looked tough to me. But the girls had belief and, you know, we swept it awesome, had a great line call. It was a big team shot and a big change in the game.”

In the 10^th, Canada had an open hit for two and the win.

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