Canada's Homan locks up playoff spot at women's worlds

UIJEONGBU-SI - Canada's Rachel Homan earned two wins Thursday to secure a playoff spot at the LGT World Women's Curling Championship.

The defending champion defeated Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni 7-6 before rolling to an 11-2 rout of Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura at Uijeongbu Arena.

Homan and her top-ranked Ottawa-based rink of Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes improved to 8-2, good for a second-place tie with Sweden's Anna Hasselborg and South Korea's Eunji Gim. 

"(We) just wanted to come out and be sharp," Miskew said. "We know the mistakes are going to happen, but we just battle back from them."

Switzerland led the 13-team standings at 9-1 after 17 sessions of round-robin play. The top six teams will make the playoffs.

China's Rui Wang and Scotland's Sophie Jackson were tied in fifth place at 6-4. Denmark's Madeleine Dupont was 5-5, Norway's Marianne Roervik was 5-6 and Italy's Stefania Constantini was 4-6. 

Canada will close its round-robin schedule Friday with games against Italy and China. 

The playoffs begin Saturday with the top two seeds earning byes to the afternoon semifinals. The other four teams will play qualification games in the morning.

The medal games go Sunday. 

"All we can control is our next two games for now, so we'll try to go out and be sharp," Miskew said. "If we can win our two games and if it works out (we get a bye), then great. If we have to play in the qualifier, then that's fine, too."

Canada handed Switzerland its first loss in a back-and-forth matchup between the top two teams in the world rankings.

"It took us 11 ends to beat them," Homan said. "I'm just really proud of my team for sticking together and trying to make the next one."

The win also virtually guaranteed Canada a spot in the women's curling competition at the 2026 Olympics, Curling Canada said in a statement.

"I feel pretty proud that we're able to represent Canada and get enough points to get to an Olympic spot," Homan said. "I'm just proud that we're able to clinch that spot for Canada."

The winners of the Montana's Canadian Curling Trials will represent the red Maple Leaf in the women's and men's curling competitions at the Games. That event is scheduled for late November in Halifax.

Canada had a 5-1 lead on Japan at the mid-game break Thursday. Homan iced the win with a runback in the eighth end that left Canada sitting five. 

Yoshimura came up light on her final draw and the teams shook hands. 

Homan defeated Tirinzoni in the 2024 world championship final in Sydney, N.S.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2025.