Team Homan's path to gold at the women's worlds in South Korea
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Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based rink will look to continue their historically dominant run as they enter the World Women’s Curling Championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea as the defending champions and clear favourites.
After winning last year’s worlds with a commanding 13-1 record in Sydney, N.S., Team Homan, otherwise known as The Homan Empire, hasn’t slowed down a bit this season.
Homan, alongside third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, owns a 56-4 record in 2024-25, highlighted by six wins across eight events and a second straight 11-0 performance at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts to defend their national title. They’ve reached the final in every event they’ve played this season.
2025 World Women's Curling Championship Field
The foursome out of the Ottawa Curling Club, ranked first in the world by a wide margin, have been close to unbeatable over the past two seasons. They have a total record of 123-11, including 68-2 against Canadian teams.
The regular international contenders will be in South Korea, including a few rinks who have found a way to defeat Team Homan this season. Ten of 13 teams are returning to compete from last year's worlds.
Homan will look to win a third career world title.
Let’s take a closer look at Team Canada’s path to gold in at the World Women’s Curling Championship.
Game 1 – Lithuania
Saturday, March 15 at 1 a.m. ET
Canada kicks off their world title defence against Lithuania, who are competing in their first ever World Women’s Curling Championship.
The Lithuanians, ranked 123rd in the world, will be skipped by 53-year-old Virginija Paulauskaitė.
Paulauskaitė is the oldest skip in this year’s field and brings along the same foursome that posted an 1-8 record at the European Curling Championships earlier this season.
Game 2 – Scotland
Saturday, March 15 at 6 a.m. ET
Sophia Jackson and Rebecca Morrison
For the fourth straight year, the Scots will be led by 28-year-old Rebecca Morrison.
Morrison will throw last rocks in this year’s tournament, but the game will be called by Sophie Jackson, who throws lead stones.
Morrison went 5-7 last year in Sydney, N.S., 3-9 in 2023 and 0-12 in 2022 when they were forced to forfeit 10 of their games because of a COVID-19 outbreak on the team.
Team Morrison have progressed every year and come into this year’s event ranked 19th in the world.
They own a 37-19 record in 2024-25, winning the Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic and taking the bronze medal at the European Curling Championships by beating Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini.
Scotland could be a tough out in South Korea and will look to reach the podium for the first time since 2017.
Game 3 – Sweden
Sunday, March 16 at 1 a.m. ET
Anna Hasselborg
Anna Hasselborg and her foursome from Sundbyberg, Sweden will make their eighth appearance at the World Women’s Curling Championship.
They fell to South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim in the opening round of the playoffs at last year’s women’s words.
The 2018 Olympic champions are just one of four teams that have gotten the better of Team Homan this season, beating them in the final of the Masters in mid-January for their eighth career Grand Slam victory.
They also played them in the final of the National back in December, losing by a score of 6-5.
Overall, Team Hasselborg is having a great 2024-25 season, posting a 54-17 record with seven final appearances and two wins. They dropped two finals to Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni, including the European Curling Championship.
For their efforts, Hasselborg and company are ranked third in the world and will look to reach the podium at this event for the first time since 2019 when they won their second straight silver medal.
Game 4 – Denmark
Monday, March 17 at 1a.m. ET
Madeleine Dupont and Denise Dupont
The Danes will be skipped by 37-year-old Madeleine Dupont for a 15th time at this year’s words.
Ranked 30th in the world, Team Dupont (33-21 in 2024-25) have won two events this season and just missed the playoffs at Euros with a 5-4 record.
The rink from Hvidovre have found success recently at the women’s worlds having made the playoffs in each of their previous three appearances.
Dupont owns a silver medal from 2007 and a bronze from 2009.
Game 5 – United States
Monday, March 17 at 8 p.m. ET
Tabitha Peterson
Tabitha Peterson will lead the American charge at the World Women’s Curling Championship for the third straight year.
After claiming bronze inside the Calgary bubble in 2021, Peterson finished 6-6 at the previous two worlds, just missing the playoffs each time.
Team Peterson, ranked 31st in the word, is 35-25 this season with their lone win coming at the USA Curling National Championships in early February.
They’ve played Team Homan once this season, dropping a 9-2 decision in the opener of the Pan Continental Curling Championships
Game 6 – Türkiye
Tuesday, March 18 at 6 a.m. ET
Dilsat Yildiz and Oznur Polat
Dilşat Yıldız will lead Türkiye at the World Women’s Curling Championship for a fourth consecutive season.
The 28-year-old has her rink ranked 37th in the world heading into South Korea after posting a 28-19 record so far this season, highlighted by winning an event in Estonia as well as a runner-up finish at the Danish Open where they fell to Team Madeleine Dupont.
They missed the playoffs at Euros with a 5-4 record.
After posting an impressive 6-6 record at the 2023 worlds, Yıldız took a bit of a step back last year with a 3-9 record. However, the Turks gave Team Homan everything they could handle in their round robin clash as the Canadians put up a five spot in the 10th end to secure the 9-5 victory.
Turkey could be sneaky playoff contenders if they can force an upset or two.
Game 7- South Korea
Tuesday, March 18 at 8 p.m. ET
Team Eunji Gim
Playing as the home country team, Eunji Gim and her South Korean rink will be gold medal contenders in Uijeongbu.
Team Gim owns a 55-25 record in 2024-25, highlighted by four wins on Tour. They began the season ranked third in the world, but have fallen to 10th, mainly due to a 6-11 record over four Grand Slam events.
They’ve dropped both their games against Team Homan this season, including the final of the Pan Continental Curling Championships, but did hand them their only loss at last year’s worlds in the round-robin finale. The two sides squared off again in the semifinal, with Homan needing to score three in the final end to win 9-7.
Gim defeated Italy’s Stefania Constantini in the bronze-medal game.
The 35-year-old Gim is one of the few skips on the planet that has given Homan some difficulties over the past two seasons and should be a formidable foe at the worlds on her home soil.
There’s a decent chance these two countries meet each other in the playoffs at some point.
Game 8 – Norway
Wednesday, March 19 at 6 a.m. ET
Kristin Skaslien and Marianne Rorvik
Norway will be led by Marianne Rørvik and last rock thrower Kristin Skaslien for a fourth consecutive year at the women’s worlds.
The Scandinavian nation missed the playoffs with a 4-8 record at last year’s event, dropping a 9-4 decision to Team Homan in the round robin. Norway claimed the silver medal at the 2023 worlds in Sweden, losing the gold-medal final to Team Silvana Tirinzoni.
Ranked 32nd, Team Rørvik is 31-19 on the season with no event wins and a 4-5 showing at the European Championship.
Team Homan hasn’t played this squad in 2024-25.
This foursome has been fairly up and down during their recent string of appearances at the worlds, so we’ll have to wait and see which Team Rørvik shows up in South Korea.
Game 9 - Switzerland
Wednesday, March 19 at 8 p.m. ET
Silvana Tirinzoni
This one could very well be a gold medal preview.
Silvana Tirinzoni, 45, has skipped Switzerland at every World Women’s Curling Championship since 2019 and has reached the podium on every occasion, including four straight world titles from 2019 to 2023 (2020 worlds were cancelled because of COVID-19).
Switzerland’s gold rush ended last year in Sydney, N.S., when Team Homan beat them in the final by a score of 7-5. Homan also won their round robin clash, 8-5.
Team Tirinzoni, also featuring suburb last rock thrower Alina Pätz, is putting together another solid season that has them ranked second in the world, 135 points behind Team Homan for first.
They own a 59-20 record in 2024-25 with six final appearances and three wins, including beating Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg in the European Championship final to defend their title from the previous season.
Tirinzoni is 0-3 against Homan this season, including dropping the season-opening Shorty Jenkins final as well as the Canadian Open final on the Grand Slam circuit in November.
Another notable loss came in early February when they were upset by Corrie Huerlimann in the semifinal of the Swiss Curling Championships, meaning they will not represent the nation at next year’s Euros.
Game 10 – Japan
Thursday, March 20 at 6 a.m. ET
Sayaka Yoshimura
Four the fourth straight year, Japan will be skipped by a different curler.
This year the honour will be given to 33-year-old Sayaka Yoshimura, who will make her third appearance at the worlds and first since 2021 when she posted a 5-8 record.
Sitting at No. 8 in the world, Team Yoshimura will be the fourth-highest-ranked team in the field.
They’ve been plenty busy this season with a 55-26 record, highlighted by three first-place finishes and a three runners-ups, including the Tour Challenge Tier 2 on the Grand Slam circuit.
Homan is 2-0 against Yoshimura this season.
Canada will be the favourites in this one, but no one should be surprised if Japan makes the six-team playoff in South Korea.
Game 11 – Italy
Friday, March 21 at 1 a.m. ET
Stefania Constantini and Giulia Zardini Lacedel
With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy quickly approaching, 25-year-old Stefania Constantini and her Cortina d'Ampezzo-based rink will look to reach the podium at this year’s women’s worlds.
Team Constantini posted a 10-2 round-robin record at the 2024 world championships in Sydney, N.S., eventually losing to South Korea in the bronze-medal game.
Homan needed an extra end to defeat Constantini, 8-7, in the round robin last year.
The young Italian rink – all under the age of 28 – have struggled a bit in 2024-25, dropping to 15th in the world with a total record of 37-30. Across 12 events, Constantini’s only appearance in a championship game came in the season-opening Euro Super Series in August, losing to Scotland’s Fay Henderson.
They finished fourth at Euros and own a 7-10 record in four Grand Slam events. However, they are 1-1 against Team Homan this season, edging them 6-4 at the Tour Challenge in October.
This foursome is expected to represent Italy at their home country Olympics next winter, so putting together a solid week in South Korea is important for this group as the countdown to the biggest event of their lives ramps up.
Constantini won gold with mixed doubles partner Amos Mosaner at the last Olympics in Beijing.
Game 12 – China
Friday, March 21 at 6 a.m. ET
Wang Rui
China’s Wang Rui will make her sixth career appearance at the World Women’s Curling Championship.
The 30-year-old last played the event in 2019 and posted a 7-5 record as a fourth, losing the qualification round of the playoffs. Wang made her worlds debut in 2014 as a second, the same event that saw Homan drop the gold-medal game to Scotland’s Eve Muirhead in Saint John, N.B.
Team Wang is ranked 17th in the world and own a 42-22 record this season with three final appearances, but no wins.
They lost both of their games against Team Homan.
The Canadians should have their playoff spot long locked up by this time of the tournament, but China might still be battling for their lives if they have a good week.