Rachel Homan's team defends championship; Canada wins gold again in women's curling

Canada, led by Rachel Homan, successfully defended its world women's curling title.

Homan won the title for the second consecutive year on Sunday with a 7-3 victory over Silvana Tirintsoni of Switzerland in the final of the world women's curling championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Interestingly, the same teams faced each other in the final last year, with Homan winning in Sydney, Canada.

Homan's team from Ottawa, consisting of Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskiw and Sarah Wilkes, is the first Canadian team to win back-to-back world titles since Sandra Schmirler's team in 1993 and 1994.

Homan said after the game:
"My team was throwing really well, I knew exactly where to put the sweep and the kids handled it well. We're so happy to make Canada proud again and bring home the gold."
“It feels incredible to win back-to-back championships.”

Team Canada took control in the seventh end and took a 4-3 lead with two points. In the eighth end, Switzerland’s Alina Potz missed her final throw, and Canada managed to steal two more points to make it 6-3.

Homan said of the moment:
“It was really important to have two stones in the house and put the pressure on her. Fortunately, she made a mistake.
You rarely see Alina make a mistake like that, so we tried to take advantage of the opportunity.”

In the ninth end, after another Swiss mistake on the final throw, Canada stole another point to win the game 7-3.

Homan continued:
“It was a very tough week, a lot of games back-to-back. We were really tired, but we knew we could play another game.”

Team Canada finished the preliminary round in third place with 10 wins and 2 losses, and without directly advancing to the semifinals, first defeated Scotland 10-4 and then defeated South Korea 6-5 in the semifinals with a “double takeout” in overtime.

For Homan and Miskiw, this is the third world title of their careers after 2017 (Beijing) and 2024. For Fleury and Wilkes, it is also the second world gold.

Fleury, who was named the best player in the “third” position of the tournament, had special praise for Homan:
“He hits all the shots accurately. That’s why he’s scary to play against; he can throw four stones at once, and he can get the ball right in the middle of the circle whenever he needs to.
He’s a real weapon.”

Homan has now qualified for the Olympic qualifiers in Halifax this November, where his team will attempt to qualify for next year's Winter Olympics in Italy.

Earlier in the competition, China defeated South Korea 9-4 to win the bronze medal.