Winter Olympics: Team GB settle for men's curling silver after losing to Canada in tense gold medal match
Canada beat Team GB 9-6 in Winter Olympics curling gold medal match; Bruce Mouat's team were looking to improve on their silver medal at the previous Winter Olympics in 2022; GB were seeking a first Olympic gold medal in men's curling in more than 100 years but it was not to be
Last Updated: 21/02/26 11:02pm
Team GB lost to Canada in the gold medal match of the men's curling event at the Winter Olympics.
Bruce Mouat's team were hoping to improve on their silver medal from the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 and claim a first gold for the men's team in this event in 102 years.
But Canada overtook GB in the ninth end to take a 9-6 win and deny Britain's gold medal hopes in Italy.
History repeated itself in heartbreaking fashion for Team GB. They had come into this event after winning two World Championships but had been striving single-mindedly for an Olympic victory.
Canada had finished the round-robin stage ahead of Team GB and so had the hammer for the first end. But GB limited them to one point in that opening end and calmly took the lead after claiming two points in the second.
Playing tidily in the third end, Canada overhauled GB to go 3-2 up. Britain then clawed a point back to level it after four ends.
At the halfway mark Canada had had the hammer three times but they only led 4-3 after the fifth end after a miss from Brad Jacobs as he failed to blank the end to retain the hammer.
Mouat then nailed a double takeout to pick up an unlikely two points from the sixth end and move GB into a 5-4 lead.
That put pressure on their opponents. Though the Canadians managed to level the game 5-5 after the seventh end, momentum remained with Britain.
But the eighth end was a crucial turning point. GB missed shots and only took one score from it.
With Britain holding a slender lead at 6-5, and Canada having the hammer in the penultimate end, GB's play became increasingly nervy.
Canada, with a four on offer, took three points from the ninth end to go into the last end 8-6 ahead.
Britain had the hammer for the 10th end and with their second-to-last throw Mouat spun in an excellent stone, knocking away two of their opponents'. But a great response from Canada seized back the ascendancy allowing them to take the gold and a 9-6 victory.
Mouat was overcome with emotion afterwards. "I'm just a bit shocked. We felt like we were probably the better team there," he told BBC Sport.
"Regardless of the result, the amount of people that have come out to support us, the amount of people that message us from back home. The boys and I love our sport. We want people to come and join our sport. If we can take anything away from this week, as well as the silver medal obviously, it's being able to inspire people to take part, I hope."
Grant Hardie added: "We wanted to win it for each other. The pain from four years ago was that much, we thought let's go and give it another go.
"We gave ourselves the chance and so much good work to try and redeem ourselves and unfortunately we've not got there again."
