CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — After a tumultuous two weeks of Olympic curling marked by allegations of cheating and a heated outburst, the Canadian men’s team will compete for the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.
Canada triumphed over Norway 5-4 in Thursday night’s semifinals, bouncing back after an earlier loss to the Norwegians on the same day.
The Canadians faced significant scrutiny when several players were accused of a double-touch rule violation, attracting attention well beyond the rink.
In the gold medal match on Saturday, Canada will face Britain, which pulled off an upset against Switzerland with an 8-5 victory, ending the Swiss team’s undefeated streak headed into the semifinals.
Norway will compete against Switzerland for the bronze medal on Friday.
The sport entered a state of chaos last week when Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson alleged that Canada’s Marc Kennedy violated rules by touching the rock again after initially releasing it. Kennedy’s response included a burst of expletives.
After facing additional accusations of double-touching, Canada stumbled in its next game against Switzerland but rallied to reach the semifinals.
Against Norway, Canada led 3-1 after six ends. Norway narrowed the gap with a single point in the eighth. Canada then extended their lead to 4-2 in the ninth.
With the hammer in the tenth end, Norway capitalized on a shot from Brad Jacobs that left a Norwegian stone at the edge of the house, tying the match at 4-4 and sending it into an extra end.
Norway missed its final shot in the extra end, delighting the Canadian team and securing their spot in the final. They aim to win their first gold in men’s curling since the 2014 Sochi Games, where Britain was also their opponent.
Kennedy expressed that knowing Canada is guaranteed a medal is an “incredible feeling.”
“We have a few veterans on the team, so we’ll take some time to rest,” he said before Saturday’s match. “It’s going to be a good battle.”
Jacobs mentioned that his 11-year-old daughter and family members were in tears in the stands.
“To give them another game to cheer for means everything to all of us,” he shared.
Switzerland held an advantage for much of their match against Britain.
The British team scored two points in the eighth end to take a 6-5 lead, their first of the match, while Switzerland was held scoreless in the ninth. Britain then added two more in the tenth to complete the shocker.
“GB into the finals with a record of 6-4 and Switzerland out with a record of 9-1. The Olympics can be quite unforgiving,” curling analyst John Cullen remarked on X.
Britain previously took silver in the 2022 Beijing Games, losing to Sweden in the final.
The Edinburgh native got emotional seeing his family and friends cheering, but remarked that expressing tears isn’t really his style, saying, “I don’t think I have tear ducts.”
It seems neither does a woman in the British fan section, who spent much of the game knitting.
The women’s bronze medal game is scheduled for Saturday, with the gold medal game set for Sunday.
Information from The Associated Press was referenced in this report.
