By Canadian Press

Homan’s rink ‘prepared’ for run at women’s world curling words

Mar 15, 2024 | 3:01 AM

Rachel Homan has her sights set on ending Canada’s five-year gold-medal drought at the world women’s curling championship.

Homan’s Ottawa rink is carrying an incredible winning streak into Saturday, when play begins in Sydney, N.S. 

She advanced to her fourth worlds after winning the Scotties Tournaments of Hearts in Calgary in February, going 11-0.

“It’s something that we’ve been preparing for all year,” the veteran skip told a virtual news conference. “It’s no different than any tournament we’ve gone into. We’ve given it the same attention.

“We’ve been there before. We’re not looking too far ahead and will just take each game as it comes.”

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Homan’s team — including third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, along with alternate Rachel Brown and coach Don Bartlett — open the tournament Saturday afternoon against Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg before facing Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont that evening. 

The Canadians play four-time defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland Tuesday evening.

Homan boasts an impressive 48-5 record on the season. Her rink heads into the championships as the top team in the World Curling Federation’s women’s rankings.

“The record speaks for itself,” said David Murdoch, Curling Canada’s high performance director. “It’s exceptional. I think that bodes well for confidence.

“They’ve had a huge amount of preparation this year. We’ve got a great support team around them, and I think that carries onto the ice. We’re excited to see what we can do.”

Homan last appeared at the world championships in 2017, where she defeated Russia’s Anna Sidorova to win gold. She lost the 2014 final to Switzerland’s Binia Feltscher-Belli and took bronze in 2013.

Miskew is the only remaining member from those teams.

“Being able to go in 2017 was amazing and to win that year was a great accomplishment for us,” Homan said. “It was seven years (ago) but it doesn’t feel like that long.”

Now a mother of three, the skip said there have been plenty of changes on and off the ice.

“I’ve gone through a little bit on the personal side and growing my family,” she said. “I’ve been able to figure out what support I need personally for me to get back to the game I can play.”

Jennifer Jones was the last Canadian rink to win the women’s world title in 2018. Tirinzoni, a 44-year-old financial analyst and investment adviser from Zurich, has won every year since, except for 2020 when the championships were cancelled due to the pandemic.

Homan said the growth of curling worldwide has raised the level of competition.

“Worlds is difficult,” she said. “You have the best teams in the world competing against each other. All the teams have put in the same amount of work.

“At the end of the day it’s a game of inches. Hopefully we’ll be on the right side of the inch this week.”

This year’s worlds will be the first event where countries can earn qualifying points to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Also included in the 13-team field is South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim, Estonia’s Team Liisa Turmann, Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini, Japan’s Team Miyu Ueno, New Zealand’s Team Jessica Smith, Norway’s Team Marianne Roervik, Scotland’s Team Rebecca Morrison, Turkey’s Team Dilsat Yildiz and Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States.

Round-robin play will run through March 22 and the top six teams will advance to the playoffs. There will be no tiebreakers, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results.

The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on March 23. The third-place team will play the sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games that morning.

The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play for the bronze medal the morning of March 24, while the winners play in the gold-medal game that evening.

Canada has won a leading 17 gold medals at the women’s world championships since 1979, followed by Switzerland with 10 and Sweden with eight. Switzerland has won eight of the past 11 world women’s titles.

Homan has defeated Tirinzoni in the three games the teams have played this season, but the Canadian is more focused on the future than the past.

“We know their skill set,” she said. “We feel confident going into the game.

“Everyone always guns for Canada and that Maple Leaf. We will just have to be ready for every shot.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2024.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press