Canada’s Jacobs beats Austria to clinch top seed at men’s curling worlds, secure Olympic quota spot [Video]

The Canadian team skipped by Brad Jacobs ticked a few boxes with its victory Friday afternoon at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask.

The 8-2 rout of Austria’s Mathias Genner gave Canada the top seed in the six-team playoffs and a direct berth to the semifinals. The host team, which will start games with hammer and choose the stones, also locked up an Olympic berth for Canada.

Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert (11-1) then tuned up for the playoffs in the evening with an 8-3 win over American Korey Dropkin. Qualification games were set for Saturday morning with the winners to advance to the semifinals ahead of Sunday’s medal games.

“I know that when games are quite meaningful, everybody seems to have another level [or] another gear,” Jacobs said. “It’s almost like there’s a switch that flips in all of us individually and …