Canada Wins Gold in Men’s Curling at 2026 Olympics
Canada’s men’s curling team secured the gold medal by beating Great Britain 9-6 on Saturday, despite facing cheating allegations during the Milan-Cortina Games.
The controversy kicked off on February 13, after Canada defeated Sweden 8-6. The match featured a heated moment between Canada’s Mark Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson, who accused Kennedy of committing an illegal maneuver called double-touch stoning. Kennedy reacted strongly to the accusation.
Efforts to appeal the situation yielded no change in the match result.
The following day, Canadians alleged that the Swedish team had improperly filmed Kennedy’s speech. Team Sweden denied this, claiming the footage was captured by a public broadcaster in Sweden.
Switzerland also alleged misconduct, stating that a Canadian player violated rules, and similar complaints emerged regarding the women’s tournament, where the Canadian women beat the United States for the bronze medal.
World Curling concluded, after reviewing the complaints, that “no violation was recorded.”
Match referees are stationed at the ends of the rink and may miss some violations. According to World Curling, officials can only monitor deliveries if there’s an obvious issue. They noted that no infractions were observed during the Friday night game, and video replay was not utilized, making the referees’ decisions final.
Interestingly, Great Britain also faced its own accusations while playing Germany. Scottish curler Bobby Ramey allegedly touched a stone after delivering it, resulting in a missed shot. Regardless, Britain won 9-4.
In light of the allegations against Canada, World Curling plans to assign two umpires to monitor games more closely, although they acknowledged that having an umpire at each release point would be impractical.
Canada’s victory marked its fourth gold medal in men’s curling, and notably, it’s the first time since 2014 that they’ve claimed the title, adding yet another setback for Great Britain, who missed out on gold again after finishing with silver four years prior.
