 Rachel Homan (Photo: Andrew Klaver/Curling Canada) defeated Halifax's Christina Black 12-3 in game 2 of the 2025 Montana's Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax, N.S. on Nov. 29. By Meredith McCullum Rachel Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes will wear the maple leaf on their back as they represent Canada at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano Cortina, Italy. The #1 World-Ranked team from Ottawa, Ont. won 2-0 over Christina Black in a best-of-three final. "We couldn't be happier. There are no words to describe putting that maple leaf on your back at the Olympics," said Homan after the game, wearing her new team Canada jacket with a grin. "We feel like we can take on the world with confidence. It's going to be an uphill battle [at the Olympics], just like it was this week, and we're going to be prepared for it." After Homan scored two in the first end, Christina Black - with vice-skip Jill Brothers, second Marlee Powers and lead Karlee Everist - bounced back with their own deuce. The third end saw Black come up heavy on a crucial draw, giving up four points that swung the momentum in Homan's favour. Homan's squad applied pressure the next two ends, earning steals in the fourth and fifth and taking a 9-2 lead. Black would not be able to recover, and the game ended 12-3 with handshakes after eight ends. "I can't believe we've finally won enough games to stop curling. That was a grind," said Homan, chuckling. "They're such an amazing team...We had to bring our best every game, and just hard to believe that we're going to Italy." Homan will celebrate the win, then focus on preparations for the Olympics. Homan and Miskew competed together at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games together, and Homan competed in the mixed doubles discipline with John Morris at the Beijing 2022 Games. This will be the first Olympic experience for Fleury, Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and coach Heather Nedohin. "Just unbelievable," said Fleury, with her young daughter by her side as she spoke to the media postgame. "Just really proud of this team and how we came out strong today. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet. It's really a dream come true." Fleury skipped a team to the 2021 Trials final, losing in extra ends on a hack weight hit that overcurled and crashed on a guard. Four years later, surrounded by new teammates and playing a new position, the result changed for Fleury and she's heading to her first Olympics. "She's so deserving. She's so hardworking, said Homan, speaking about Fleury. "Just an amazing athlete and, you know, it was tough to watch that four years ago. We were up in the stands and, yeah, it's heartbreaking. But I told her we've been there with her...We're all in this together and we we were all there, every game that we needed to clinch this together." The 2026 Olympic women's curling round robin will begin February 12 at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, with Canada facing Denmark in their first game. |
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Canada's Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant (Photo: World Curling) took down the reigning gold medalists to stay on pace for top spot in the pool.
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