Curling: Heartbreak for Team GB as Canada steal gold with last-stone 9-6 finish
Bruce Mouat's rink conceded Olympic gold after a 9-6 defeat to Canada in the men's curling final in Cortina, leaving Britain with silver for the second successive Games. The loss matters because a three-point swing in the ninth end and a decisive response on the final stone extinguished Team GB's hopes of ending a 102-year wait for a men's Olympic curling title.
Bruce Mouat and quartet leave Cortina as silver medallists
Mouat, Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie, with alternate Kyle Waddell, came into Cortina as world champions and favourites but will depart with silver for the second successive Olympics. The Scottish rink’s campaign was emotionally charged: Mouat was visibly shaken afterwards, saying "I'm a bit in shock. I think we felt like we were the better team, " while Hardie said "I'm heartbroken, " and McMillan warned it will take longer to get over this second silver. Two British players were left in tears at the end.
Curling final at Cortina Ice Arena decided by ninth end
Canada overtook Great Britain with a three-point ninth end to move 8-6 ahead, a turning point that set the stage for the final 10th end. Britain had the hammer in the last end and Mouat produced a near-perfect penultimate throw, spinning in a stone that removed two Canadian rocks, but Canada responded and converted the final shot to seal a 9-6 win. The sequence demonstrates direct cause and effect: the ninth-end three gave Canada a lead that Britain’s final-stone play could not overturn.
Match flow: ends, scores and momentum swings
Canada began with the hammer after finishing the round-robin ahead of Team GB, but Britain limited the first end to one and then took two in the second to lead early. Canada recovered in the third to go 3-2 up and the teams were level after four ends. At the halfway mark Canada had held the hammer three times but led only 4-3 after a Brad Jacobs miss in the fifth. Mouat executed a double takeout in the sixth to secure two points and a 5-4 lead, only for Canada to level at 5-5 after the seventh. The eighth end proved costly for Britain, who managed just one to lead 6-5 before the pivotal ninth gave Canada the edge.
Brad Jacobs, rivalry and tactical moments
Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, and Mouat traded early points in a contest that added another chapter to their rivalry. The two have met 14 times and this final marked only the second occasion Jacobs has beaten Mouat. Jacobs’ team had earlier beaten GB in the round-robin, a result that left Mouat’s rink needing favours from other teams at one stage, and Canada’s win here was their second over GB in five days.
Recent form, past titles and off-ice context
The British rink arrived with strong credentials: they entered Cortina as world champions and have won two World Championships. Over the past four years they are credited with major tournament success, with one account listing two European championships and four grand slam event wins and another noting a run of 12 Grand Slam titles since the last Games; the team have also claimed a string of other international honours. They had scraped past a potential early exit only days earlier and recovered with an epic semi-final win over Switzerland on Thursday that Mouat called "our gold medal. " Canada’s campaign has not been straightforward either, with the team noted to have had a tumultuous time amid cheating claims.
What this means for the team and future plans
The defeat continues the narrow Olympic miss for Mouat, who has now lost four Olympic medal matches across mixed doubles and men’s events at two Games. He said he intends to continue to the next Olympics in France, answering "100%" when asked if he will keep going, though he acknowledged the group has not yet discussed whether the same quartet will stay together. Hardie admitted he once contemplated retirement after the Beijing final defeat to Sweden four years ago but that the pain then was the spur to return. What makes this notable is how small margins across the ninth and 10th ends — a missed blank, a double takeout and a three-point swing — decided a tournament that Team GB approached believing it was their moment.
The match also denied Britain a fourth gold medal of these Games, and it prolonged the nation's wait for a men's Olympic curling title to 102 years. Fans inside the Cortina Ice Arena added to the atmosphere, with travelling Scottish supporters singing and one relative playing "Loch Lomond" on the bagpipes from the stands during the tense moments of the final.
