Fast times on road to Olympic success for Canada curler Jacobs

MILAN, Jan 31 : Canada's Olympic curling champion Brad Jacobs knows exactly what it takes for him to reach the top: almost five days of fasting just before the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Few Olympic fans would associate curling with gruelling preparation and fasting that seems more fitting to skaters, skiers or ice hockey players, but for 40-year-old Jacobs, who won curling gold at the 2014 Games, it is just what he needed ahead of next week's start of the Games in Italy.

"110-hour fast completed and it was a grind," Jacobs said in a social media post. "Throughout the fast I had four gym sessions, four sauna sessions, two steams and four on-ice practice sessions (180 stones). Feeling very optimal heading into the Olympics.

"Boy, do I ever feel lean and strong. The goal was to have a long fast before a big event. This is the longest one I have done," he said.

Canada's men have won gold medals in three of the last five editions of the Games but have not topped the podium since 2014. 

Fasting has become popular both among high-level athletes, looking to improve performances and ordinary people hoping for the health benefits attributed to it.