Canada's men's curling team advanced to the gold medal match at the 2026 Winter Olympics despite ongoing allegations of rule violations. The team defeated Norway 5-4 in overtime during Thursday's semifinals, setting up a final against Great Britain on Saturday. The controversy stems from accusations of double-touching the stone, highlighted in a heated exchange with Sweden.
The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics curling competition has been marked by controversy over the double-touch rule, where players must not contact the stone's granite after it crosses the hog line. Last Friday, during Canada's 8-6 victory over Sweden, Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Marc Kennedy of violating this rule by touching the stone beyond the hog line. Kennedy responded with a profanity-laden outburst, saying, "I haven't done it once. You can f*** off." Eriksson replied, "I'll show you a video after the game. I'll show you a video where it's two metres over the hog line."
World Curling issued Kennedy a verbal warning for inappropriate language but did not charge him with cheating. Reflecting afterward, Kennedy stated, "I probably could have handled it better. But we're human out there and there's a lot of emotion. I'm not going to apologise for defending my team-mates and standing up for myself. I've curled my whole life, never once with the intention of gaining an advantage through cheating."
Kennedy later claimed the incident was part of a "premeditated plan" by Sweden to catch teams, including Canada, in violations using targeted cameras at the hog line. He and coach Paul Webster noted, "I know we're not the only team that they've done that to." Sweden's Niklas Edin countered that they have raised concerns about Canadian practices for seven or eight years, adding, "The media crew decided to place the camera on the hog line to see what was happening."
Similar allegations surfaced against Canada's women's team in their match against Switzerland, and Swiss curler Pablo Lachat-Couchepin reported witnessing another double touch during a break in the men's game against Canada, which Switzerland won 9-5. Lachat-Couchepin said, "It's nothing personal against Marc Kennedy, he's a fantastic player, a very fair-play guy... It's just when you receive an email when you have to comply to the rules, then you have to follow it."
World Curling responded by reminding players of the rule: "During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play." The governing body increased monitoring but later adjusted and reverted rule changes midway through the event.
Despite the scrutiny, Canada steadied, losing to Norway earlier Thursday but rallying for a 5-4 overtime semifinal win. Skip Brad Jacobs described the Olympics as "the hardest curling event on the planet," noting the mental toll amid the controversy. Great Britain secured their final spot with an 8-5 upset over undefeated Switzerland. Canada seeks its first men's curling gold since 2014, when they also faced Britain in the final.
