The winning men’s and women’s teams, led by Brad Jacobs and Rachel Homan, celebrate after the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax on Saturday.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Brad Jacobs couldn’t hide his delight when trying on his brand new lululemon team jacket on Monday as the Canadian Olympic Committee officially nominated its curlers for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
“Oh, that’s nice, eh?” said the skip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., as he eased admiringly into the coat.
The committee officially introduced the men’s team, led by Jacobs, the women’s team skipped by Rachel Homan, and the mixed doubles team of Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman. The announcement happened in Halifax on Monday, some 36 hours after the teams punched their tickets to the Games by winning the Canadian Curling Trials.
Their message was clear on Monday: They feel ready to top the curling podium again.
Canada’s Olympic curling team is built on bedrock of experience
Canada hasn’t won Olympic gold in the four-person curling events since both Team Jacobs and Team Jennifer Jones won at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The most recent Olympic medals were gold in 2018 when mixed doubles debuted, and a bronze for Team Brad Gushue in 2022.
“We’re coming for everyone in Italy,” said Jacobs, who is now making his second trip to the Winter Games after his 2014 gold medal win. “We’re going to be coming in hot and fight hard for our country. Let’s see if we can relive this dream and get back to the top of the podium. How does that sound?”
He earned a cheer from the complete Canadian team seated before him, sporting their new tracksuits. It was their first appearance as a whole Olympic team. The curlers gathered to pose for team photos while gripping a large Olympic ticket.
Jacobs will be joined by third and vice-skip Marc Kennedy (St. Albert, Alta.), second Gallant (Chestermere, Alta.), lead Ben Hebert (Chestermere, Alta.) and alternate Tyler Tardi (Calgary). All of the men already have their unique Olympic experiences, but assembled this team in 2024 in hopes to head to the Olympics together.
Team Jacobs punches Olympic ticket with 6-5 win over Winnipeg’s Dunstone
Ottawa’s Homan clinches Olympic berth with 12-3 win over Team Black
Homan (Ottawa) will go to the Olympics with third and vice skip Tracy Fleury (Sudbury, Ont.), second Emma Miskew (Ottawa), lead Sarah Wilkes (London, Ont.), and alternate Rachelle Brown (Edmonton).
Team Homan won back-to-back World Women’s Curling Championship titles in 2024 and 2025. They were the first Canadian women’s team to win consecutive world championship titles in over 30 years.
“I’ve known these girls my whole life, curled against them, know what they bring to a team, and we knew what we were capable of. That’s why we put this team together,” said Homan.
“We get to stand together realizing this dream that we started four years ago together as a unit. There’s not enough words to describe the feelings and emotions we’ve gone through these last couple days together.”
The curlers emerged from an ultra-competitive Canadian field in Halifax. On top of countless close games that came down to the last rock, the teams also had to adapt to ever-changing ice conditions. The mild Halifax weather outside gave ice makers headaches inside Scotiabank Centre.
“What an incredible week of curling we had … amazing skill, amazing shot-making, amazing resilience this week,” said David Murdoch, Curling Canada’s high-performance director.
“I think that’s going to put us in a tremendous stead as we go to Cortina.”
Curling will take place at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Mixed doubles curling will be held from Feb. 4 to 10, followed by the men’s and women’s competitions from Feb. 11 to 22.