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Canada’s men beat Britain to Olympic curling gold Saturday 9-6 after dismissing allegations of cheating during the round robin at the Milan Cortina Games.
The chaos began on February 13, when Canada beat Sweden 8-6, and Canada’s third Marc Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson got into it.
Eriksson had accused Kennedy of an illegal practice known as double-touching stones after releasing them from the pig line. Kennedy responded with insults.
Both sides appealed to officials, but no results were changed.
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Gold medalists Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert of Team Canada celebrate victory in the men’s gold medal match against Great Britain at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 21, 2026, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)
The next day, the Canadians accused the Swedes of improperly filming Kennedy’s delivery. The Swedish team denied any inappropriate recording, saying the video came from a Swedish public broadcaster.
The Swiss members also accused the Canadians of double contact, and similar accusations reached the women’s competition. (The Canadian women defeated the United States in the bronze medal match).
World Curling ultimately concluded that “no violations were recorded” during the jury’s review of the claims.
Canada’s Ben Hebert, Brett Gallant and Marc Kennedy compete during the men’s curling match against Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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“The players of the game are at the end of each sheet and cannot see every violation of the delivery,” said World Curling. “However, when they were informed about the delivery problems, the match referees were placed in three places to monitor the delivery of services.
“During this viewing period of Friday night’s game, no infractions were recorded,” the statement said, noting that video replays are not used during games and the referee’s call is final.
However, Britain was also accused of cheating. Britain was playing Germany in a round robin game when officials said Scottish hurler Bobby Lammie touched a stone after releasing it on the ice. Britain were penalized for two touchdowns but ended up winning 9-4.
World Curling said that, because of the allegations against Canada, it would appoint two officials to go between the four curling games in each round but noted that it was “impossible” to have referees stationed at each pig line, the line where stones must be released by hand.
Canada’s Ben Hebert, right, and Brad Jacobs celebrate becoming Olympic champions after defeating Great Britain in the men’s gold medal match at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo Feb. 21, 2026. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
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It was Canada’s fourth gold in men’s curling and first since 2014, when it beat Great Britain to make it three straight Olympic golds. It’s also sad for Great Britain, who won silver four years ago.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos, Jackson Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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