Canada's Team Brad Jacobs will have a chance to end the country's Olympic curling drought.
Jacobs edged Team Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway 5-4 in an extra end on Thursday at Milano Cortina 2026, sending Canada to the men's gold-medal game.
Jacobs will face reigning world champion Team Bruce Mouat of Great Britain in the gold-medal game on Saturday (1:05 p.m. ET / 10:05 a.m. PT, CBC Gem, Sportsnet+).
“That was probably the most nervous we’ve been as a group in a long time," Jacobs told CBC Olympics. "You could just feel it and sense it out there, that was a tough game and Norway played great. Good back-and-forth battle and to now be guaranteed a medal for Canada is pretty special.
"Everyone was really excited just about that simple fact, but, yeah, one more big win here and we’d love to come home with gold for Canada.”
Canada is trying to win gold in men's curling for the first time since Jacobs skipped another rink to the title in 2014.
That year also was the last time a Canadian rink won an Olympic team curling event — Jacobs and Jennifer Jones both took the titles.
Men's Olympic curling standings, schedule, results
Team Brad Jacobs will aim to get Canada back on top of the Olympic podium for men's curling for the first time since 2014 this month in Italy. Follow all the action with Sportsnet.
Men's curling standings, schedule, results
And it's that gold medal that helped Jacobs overcome the nerves and advance to the spot he wasn't sure he'd ever reach again.
"No, no, I didn't," Jacobs told CBC Olympics when asked if he thought he'd win gold again. "We've seen Canada sort of struggle to get medals in curling in men's and women's for a little while now, and every time I see just a medal favourite or contender in an Olympic event now not podium, I cherish the gold medal I have at home even more and I think it's that perspective that allows us to go out there and play very free.
"Even though that was a little bit of a nerve-wracking game and we could kind of see it and sense it out there, still, when I was throwing, I felt totally relaxed and calm, like we could make anything, so that's good. Just would love to get the job done."
On Thursday, Ramsfjell forced an extra end with a deuce in the 10th.
But in the 11th, Ramsfjell couldn't make a tough double, preventing Jacobs from having to throw his last rock.
Mouat, meanwhile, eked into the fourth and final playoff spot with a 5-4 record before knocking off previously unbeaten Team Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland 8-5 in the other semifinal.
Mouat won Olympic silver in 2022 and captured world titles in 2025 and '23. He beat Jacobs in last year's world championship semifinal en route to gold in Moose Jaw, Sask. Canada went on to win bronze.
Jacobs finished 7-2 in the round-robin, overcoming a controversy in which Canada's third Marc Kennedy was accused of double-touching rocks on his releases during a feisty game against Sweden.
The ensuing dispute caused World Curling to temporarily change its umpiring set-up before going back to a more traditional usage of umpires after two more contentious calls in other games.
