Rachel Catherine Homan (born April 5, 1989) is a Canadian international curler and the reigning women's world champion in 2024. Homan is a former Canadian junior champion, a four-time Canadian national champion, and two-time World Champion, all as a skip. She was also the skip of the Canadian women's curling team at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
During her first two years at the junior level, Homan did not win a provincial championship. In 2007, her team lost the provincial semifinal to Hollie Nicol's rink.[8] In 2008, her team lost in the final to Danielle Inglis.[9] These losses were allayed by a provincial junior championship in 2009, earning her team a berth at the 2009 Canadian Junior Curling Championships.[10] At the Canadian Juniors, she skipped the Ontario team to a 10–2 record after the round robin, giving her rink a bye to the final, where she lost to the defending champion, Kaitlyn Lawes from Manitoba.[11][12] Homan won the 2010 provincial championship and represented Ontario at the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships.[10] At the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Homan, with Emma Miskew, Laura Crocker, and Lynn Kreviazuk, won the junior national title with an undefeated record of 13 wins and 0 losses – only the fourth women's team to do so.[13] The team represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Curling Championships in Flims, Switzerland. The team lost just one round robin game and lost in the final to Sweden's team, skipped by Anna Hasselborg.[14]
Prior to graduating from juniors in 2010, Homan's junior team was too young to participate in Scotties Tournament of Hearts playdowns (as juniors were ineligible to enter provincial playdowns until 2016),[15] but this did not stop her from participating in Women's World Curling Tour events. Homan's top accomplishments on the tour while she was junior-aged included winning two straight Southwestern Ontario Women's Charity Cashspiels. In 2007, she defeated then-World Champion Jennifer Jones in the semifinal and Ève Bélisle in the final, and in 2008 she won in the final against the Chinese national team, skipped by Wang Bingyu.[16][17] Her team earned $11,000 for each win.[18][19] In 2009, she won the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, winning $5,500 for her team.[20] Later that year, her team participated in the Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials, where her team finished with a 3–3 record, and therefore did not qualify for the "Roar of the Rings", Canada's Olympic Trials.[21]
In 2009, Homan's rink was named the World Curling Tour's "rookie team of the year."[22]
In April 2011, Homan played third for her brother Mark, and won the 2012 Ontario Mixed Championship.[25] The team, which also included Brian Fleischhaker and teammate in women's play Alison Kreviazuk, represented Ontario at the 2012 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in November 2011. The team finished with an 8–5 record and out of the playoffs.[26]
That same month, Homan's women's team made it to her first career Grand Slam final, when she lost to Jennifer Jones in the final of the 2011 Players' Championship.[27] Later in 2011, she played in her first Canada Cup where her team finished with a 2–4 record.[28]
Homan once again qualified for the provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2012. Her team went undefeated throughout the round robin. However, they lost in the final to Tracy Horgan's rink from Sudbury. Homan, who was up by one point with the hammer, missed a draw to the button to clinch the victory on her final rock. Instead, she gave up three points and lost.[29]
Scotties champions and world bronze medallists (2012–13)
Later in the season, Homan qualified for her second Scotties Tournament of Hearts by going undefeated at the 2013 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts.[35] Homan began the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kingston, Ontario, by winning the Ford Hot Shots skills competition.[36] At the Scotties, the team lost just one game in the round robin, to Manitoba's Jennifer Jones. This gave the rink a 10–1 record, second behind Manitoba, who went undefeated. However, in their first playoff game, the Homan rink defeated Jones 8–5.[37] This put the Homan team in the final, where they faced Jones once again, and won 9–6.[38] With the victory, the Homan rink became the first Ottawa-based team to win the Canadian women's curling championship. The win earned Homan and her team the right to represent Canada at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, Latvia.
At the World championships, the Homan rink led Canada to an 8–3 round robin finish, which put them in third place.[39] In the playoffs, they beat the United States (skipped by Erika Brown) in the 3 vs. 4 game, then lost to Scotland (skipped by Eve Muirhead) in the semi-final, after Homan missed her last shot of the game, jamming a double takeout. After the loss, Homan defeated the Americans again, this time in the bronze medal game.[40] The Homan rink finished the season by losing in the quarter-final of the 2013 Players' Championship.[41]
Scotties repeat champions and world silver medallists (2013–14)
Homan's success over the previous three seasons qualified her team for an automatic entry at the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.[45] There, the team qualified for playoffs with a 4–3 round robin record, in second place. They lost to Sherry Middaugh in the semi-final, ending the team's 2014 Olympic hopes.[46]
As defending Scotties champions from 2013, the Homan rink represented Team Canada at the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Montreal.[47] The event was notable for the absence of Jennifer Jones, who was competing at the Olympics.[48] The Homan team went through the entire tournament undefeated without ever having to throw their last rock and defeated Alberta's Val Sweeting in the final.[49] Homan became the youngest skip ever to win back-to-back Scotties.[50] Homan was awarded the Sandra Schmirler Most Valuable Player Award, and ended the event with a 90% shooting percentage based on overall shot successes throughout the event, the highest of any skip in the tournament.[51][52]
Homan's 2014 Scotties win earned her team a berth at the 2014 World Women's Curling Championship in Saint John, New Brunswick. The team had a better event than the previous year, as they only lost one round robin game to finish first place heading into the playoffs.[53] The team defeated Switzerland's Binia Feltscher in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game, but lost in a rematch in the final. Homan and her Canadian team thus settled for a silver medal.[54]
The Homan rink ended the season with a loss in the final of the 2014 Players' Championship against the Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones. The match marked the last game on the team for second Alison Kreviazuk, as she moved to Sweden to be with her boyfriend Fredrik Lindberg, who played for Niklas Edin.[55][56] Kreviazuk, who had played for Homan since they were bantam-aged, was replaced by Joanne Courtney from Edmonton.[56]
Homan's team began the 2016–17 season by winning their first event, the 2016 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic.[70] They then won the 2016 Canad Inns Women's Classic the following month.[71] A week later, the team lost in the final of the 2016 Masters of Curling against the Allison Flaxey rink.[72] A month later, they lost to Jennifer Jones in the final of the 2016 Canada Cup of Curling.[73] The rink lost 2 games in the round robin of the 2017 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, finishing second in the round robin behind Jacqueline Harrison.[74] They won both their playoff matches, including defeating Harrison in the final, qualifying the team to represent Ontario at the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.[75] In the final, Team Homan defeated Manitoba's Michelle Englot to win the Scotties, her third Scotties title in four years.[76] Both teams went 10–1 in the round robin, with Homan's lone loss against Englot. Englot beat Homan once again in the 1 vs. 2 game, then Homan beat Northern Ontario's (Krista McCarville) in the semi-final to force the re-match against Englot in the final.[76] At the 2017 world championship in Beijing, Homan's rink became the third team in tournament history to go unbeaten in round-robin play, joining fellow Canadian Colleen Jones from 2003 and Sweden's Anette Norberg from 2005.[77] She went unbeaten right to the end, the first team to do so, winning the gold medal by beating Anna Sidorova (for the 3rd consecutive time, with wins in the round robin, 1 vs. 2 playoff game, and final) 8–3 for the gold medal, her first world title and completing her medal set at worlds.[78][79] The Homan rink finished the season by winning the 2017 Humpty's Champions Cup.[80] In mixed doubles, Homan and partner John Morris were runners-up at the 2017 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, losing to Joanne Courtney and Reid Carruthers in the final.[81]
Homan began the 2017–18 curling season by winning the 2017 Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic and then the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic the following week.[82][83] Homan and her team won the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in her hometown of Ottawa, defeating previously unbeaten Chelsea Carey in the final. The Homan rink lost just one game in the tournament, against Carey in the round robin.[84] In her first event since winning the trials, Homan curled just 64% at the 2018 Continental Cup of Curling as a member of Team North America.[85] Her team's record at the event was 0–3–1, and she also lost in her mixed doubles match with Brett Gallant.[85][86][87][88][89] Despite this, Team North America won the event on a draw to the button by Brad Gushue, breaking a 30–30 tie.[90] The team then played at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they started with 3 consecutive losses. Losing to the team from Denmark meant that Canada was 0–3 for the first time ever at an Olympics.[91] The game against Denmark was marked with controversy when Denmark burned a rock as it was coming to a rest, when a sweeper touched the rock with their broom. Rather than letting the rock be adjusted, Homan removed the stone.[92]Joan McCusker, commentating for CBC at the Olympics, said of Homan's move that "I think that was a rash move to take it off. They should have left it in play. It doesn't look good on you."[91] Homan and team won their next three games to stay in playoff contention but lost their next two, with their fifth loss against Eve Muirhead officially eliminating them from medal contention. This made Homan's team the first Canadian Olympic curlers to not play for or win a medal.[93] The team went winless at the 2018 Players' Championship in April,[94] but they won the final event of the year, the 2018 Humpty's Champions Cup, defeating Kerri Einarson in the final.[95]
Team Homan began the 2018–19 curling season by winning the first leg of the Curling World Cup, defeating Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in the final.[96] The following month, Hasselborg defeated Homan in the final of the 2018 Masters.[97] Homan won the next Grand Slam event, the 2018 Tour Challenge, defeating Tracy Fleury in the final.[98] At the 2018 Canada Cup, the Homan rink went 5–2 in the round robin and lost in the semifinal to Jennifer Jones.[99][100] A week later, the team won the 2018 National, beating Kerri Einarson in the final.[101] The next month, Homan won her third Grand Slam of the season, the 2019 Meridian Canadian Open, defeating Silvana Tirinzoni in the final.[102] A week later, she participated in the 2019 Continental Cup on Team North America, losing to Team World. She won one game in the event, in the mixed team scramble.[103][104] Homan and her rink played in the 2019 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, having missed the previous year's event due to the Olympics and having won the 2017 Scotties. At the event, the team lost just one game and won their fourth provincial title.[105] The event was marked by an incident of bullying aimed at Homan. A "number of curlers" at the event voted for her to win the tournament's sportsmanship award to protest the fact that the team had two members (Homan and Courtney) living in Alberta. Teams were only allowed one out-of-province "import" player; however, Homan maintained a residence in Ontario and was exempted from requirements as she was a full-time student in Edmonton.[106] At the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her team finished the round robin at 5–2, moving on to the championship pool, where they finished at 8–3, in third place.[107] The team qualified for the final, beating Northern Ontario's Krista McCarville in the 3 vs. 4 game and Saskatchewan's Robyn Silvernagle in the semi-final. They lost the final to Alberta's Chelsea Carey in an extra end, despite leading 5–1 in the fourth end.[108] At the 2019 Players' Championship, the team missed the playoffs after posting a 2–3 round robin record and losing a tie-breaker to Satsuki Fujisawa.[109] They finished the season with a semi-final finish at the 2019 Champions Cup.[110] In 2019, Homan was named the fourth-greatest Canadian female curler in history by The Sports Network (TSN), the main television broadcaster of major curling events, following a poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.[111]
Team Homan announced on March 12, 2020, that the team was parting ways with longtime lead Lisa Weagle.[120] On March 17, 2020, the team announced they would be adding Sarah Wilkes as their new second, with Joanne Courtney moving to lead.[121]
The 2021 Ontario provincial playdowns were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. As the 2020 provincial champions, Homan's team was chosen to represent Ontario at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary.[122] Up to that point, Homan had only played in one tour game the entire season in the Okotoks Ladies Classic in November, before that event was cancelled due to a province-wide shutdown in Alberta.[123] Three months later, Homan entered the 2021 Scotties at eight months pregnant.[124] She had a successful round robin, with a 7–1 record, including a win against defending champion Kerri Einarson. She entered the championship pool as the first seed, where she won three games and lost one to Manitoba's Jennifer Jones.[125] Because of their earlier win against Einarson, Homan's team received a bye to the final. There, they lost 9–7 to Einarson after Homan missed a freeze in the last end, resulting in Einarson not needing to throw her last rock.[126] Homan was named Second Team All-Star skip for the tournament.[127] A month after the Scotties, Homan gave birth to her second child, Bowyn of March 25, and missed the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in the process (she had qualified with John Morris).[128] Having just given birth three weeks prior, she had originally planned on not playing in the two Slams scheduled for the end of the season, but later decided she was physically able to do so. At the first of Slam, the 2021 Champions Cup, she had no problem claiming her 11th career Slam title, defeating Silvana Tirinzoni in the final.[129] A week later she played in the 2021 Players' Championship, the last event for Team Homan of the season. At the Players', she led her team all the way to the final, before losing to Einarson in a re-match of the Scotties final.[130]
Team Homan made it to the quarterfinals of their first slam of the 2021–22 season, the 2021 Masters, where they were beaten by Alina Kovaleva. Two weeks later, they played in the 2021 National, where they were eliminated in the quarters again, this time by Anna Hasselborg. Next for Team Homan was the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials where they attempted to qualify for the Olympics again. The team, however, did not have a successful week, finishing with a 2–6 record.[131][132][133] Team Homan's record over the season was not good enough to give them an automatic qualifying spot at the 2022 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, forcing them to play in an open qualifier.[134] The team did qualify at the Open Qualifier,[133] but the Ontario Scotties were postponed due to new COVID-19 regulations put into place by the province, shutting down sports event.[135] The spread of COVID-19's omicron variant also cancelled the 2022 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials[136] which Homan was set to participate in with John Morris.[137] With the postponement of the Ontario Scotties, CurlON announced that they would be selecting Team Hollie Duncan over Team Homan to represent Ontario if Homan was selected to represent Canada in the mixed doubles event at the 2022 Olympics (as the Trials had been cancelled). However, if Homan wasn't selected, then CurlON would select Team Homan to play in the Scotties instead. This plan of action was considered confusion and disappointing to the teams involved.[138] Homan would end up being selected to represent Canada at the Olympics, giving Team Duncan the right to represent Ontario at the 2022 Scotties. However, Team Homan (sans Homan) qualified for the Scotties as Team Wild Card #3.[139] For the Tournament of Hearts, Homan's teammates Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes and Joanne Courtney added Allison Flaxey to their lineup. At the championship, the team finished with a 4–4 record, not advancing to the playoff round.[140]
At the mixed doubles event at the Olympics, Homan and Morris struggled, finishing with a 5–4 record. Their record was tied for fourth with Sweden's Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson, however, due to their head-to-head loss against the Swedish pair, they missed the playoffs.[141] The pair missed their chance at a spot by mere millimetres, as their final shot in their last game against Italy went too far, thus losing the game.[142] Team Homan had to wait until April 2022 to play in the postponed Ontario Hearts, which they ended up winning, beating Carly Howard in the final. The team wrapped up their season with the two final slams, making it to the semifinals at the 2022 Players' Championship where they lost to Anna Hasselborg, and the quarters of the 2022 Champions Cup, where they lost to Kerri Einarson.[133]
In March 2022, after Joanne Courtney announced she would be stepping back from competitive curling, it was announced that Tracy Fleury would be joining the team for the 2022–23 season. They did not announce whether Homan or Fleury would skip the new lineup.[143]
Tracy Fleury joins as third thrower (2022–present)
In August 2022, it was announced that Tracy Fleury would be skipping Team Homan, with Homan herself continuing to throw last rocks on the team. With the addition of Fleury, Emma Miskew was moved to the second position for the first time since joining forces with Homan as a teenager.[144] The new lineup made their debut at the 2022 Saville Shoot-Out, making it to the final before losing to Jennifer Jones and her new team.[145] Later on in the month, Team Homan played in the inaugural PointsBet Invitational tournament organized by Curling Canada. The team made it to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Team Scheidegger, which was skipped by Kristie Moore in a draw-to-the button to break a 6–6 tie.[146] The next month in October, the team played in the first Slam of the season, the 2022 National. There, the team made it to the quarterfinals before losing out to another new-look team skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes.[147] Later that month, the team played in the next Slam, the 2022 Tour Challenge. The team won the event, defeating Kerri Einarson 8–4 in the final, to pick up Homan's 12th career Slam, and the first for her new team.[148] In November, the team won their second Tour event of the season at the Red Deer Curling Classic, defeating Casey Scheidegger in the final.[149] In December, the team played in their third Slam of the season, the 2022 Masters. The team made it to the final against Team Einarson again, but this time Einarson had the best of her, beating Homan 6–5 in an extra end.[150] In January, the team played in the 2023 Canadian Open, making it as far as the quarterfinals this time before matching up against Einarson. Team Homan couldn't get past Einarson again, and were eliminated after a 7–2 decision.[151] Later in the month, the team won the 2023 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Homan's seventh career provincial championship. They defeated Hollie Duncan in the final.[152] The team represented Ontario at the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, going 6–2 in pool play. This put the team into the Championship round, where they were eliminated after a loss to Nova Scotia, skipped by Christina Black.[153] In March, Homan paired up with British Columbia's Tyler Tardi at the 2023 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. The pair went 6–1 in pool play, but were eliminated by the eventual winners of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing in the playoffs.[154] In April, Team Homan played in the 2023 Players' Championship, missing the playoffs, but rebounded to win the 2023 Champions Cup to cap off the season. The team beat their rivals in the Kerri Einarson rink in the final, coming back from a 4–0 deficit to win the championship 6–5, giving Homan her 13th Grand Slam title. Homan took over as skip at the event, as it was announced she was pregnant.[155]
At the beginning of the 2023–24 curling season, it was announced that Homan would take over as skip of the team, with Fleury taking on regular third duties. The team also brought in former World Men's Champion and Olympic silver medallist Don Bartlett as their coach.[156] It was also announced that the team would be sponsored by Ottawa-based nail polish company Holo Taco.[157] The team began the season without Homan, who had just given birth to her third child. With Heather Nedohin in her place, the team went on to win the 2023 Saville Shootout.[158] Homan returned to her team for the 2023 PointsBet Invitational, where they made it to the final, beating Kerri Einarson there 9–7 to claim the title, and $50,000 in the process.[159] Three weeks later, Team Homan played in their first Slam of the season, the 2023 Tour Challenge. There, the team went 2–2, being eliminated from playoff contention due to a poor tournament draw to the button shootout score.[160] The team made it to the final in the next Slam, the 2023 National. There, they went undefeated until they faced the equally undefeated Gim Eun-ji Korean rink in that game, which they lost 7–6.[161] A week later, the team played in the Red Deer Curling Classic again, winning their second straight title after easily defeating the Selena Sturmay rink in the final, 8–1.[162] The team continued their success in December, winning the 2023 Masters, Homan's 14th career Grand Slam, and first of the season. They defeated Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in the final, 8–4.[163] A month later, the team won their second slam title in a row, and Homan's 15th in her career when the rink downed Tirinzoni again in the final of the Canadian Open. The team won 5–4, stealing the game in an extra end, after trailing 4–2 after the seventh end.[164]
New qualifying rules for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts allowed Team Homan a pre-qualifying spot at the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts without having to play in the 2024 playdowns.[165] At the Hearts, the team went undefeated, winning all 11 of their games, including the final, where they beat Jennifer Jones, another pre-qualifier team, 5–4. It was Jones' last Hearts, as she decided to retire prior to the event. The win would be Homan's fourth career Hearts title.[166]
With the Scotties win, the team went on to represent Canada at the 2024 World Women's Curling Championship. At the Worlds, Homan led Canada to an 11–1 round robin record, including ending Switzerland and Silvana Tirinzoni's 42 game winning streak at the Women's Worlds, which dated back to the 2021 Worlds.[167] Her only defeat came against South Korea (skipped by Gim Eun-ji) in the last draw, a meaningless game for the team, as they had clinched first place and a bye to the semifinals.[168] Homan and Canada faced-off against the Koreans again in the semifinals, and this time beat them, 9–7.[169] This put her team into the final, where she faced off against the four-time defending World Champion Tirinzoni team. Heading into the ninth end of the game, the team was down 5–4 to the Swiss, but Homan made a split of a rock in the 12-foot on her last to score three, giving her team a 7–5 lead. Switzerland conceded the game in the 10th after deciding they didn't have a shot to tie the game, giving Homan her second World Championship title.[170]
Team Homan ended the 2023–24 season at the 2024 Players' Championship. The rink went undefeated in the tournament until the semifinal, where they lost to the same Tirinzoni rink they had beaten in the World Championship final. Team Homan would finish the season with an "unprecedented" 67–7 win-loss record.[171]
During the 2024 off season, it was announced that Brendan Bottcher would be added as the team's coach, as well as Homan's mixed doubles partner.[172] Bottcher would only coach the team until October 2024 when it was announced he was joining the Brad Gushue rink as their second.[173]
To begin the 2024–25 season, it was announced that AMJ Campbell would be the team's title sponsor.[175] The team won their first event of the season, the AMJ Campbell sponsored 2024 Shorty Jenkins Classic.[176] Two weeks later, the team won their second straight PointsBet Invitational, defeating Kayla Skrlik's rink in the final, 8–3.[177] The following week, Team Homan played in the first Grand Slam event of the season, the 2024 Tour Challenge. The rink made it to the final, where costly mistakes by Homan in the sixth end resulted in a 5–4 loss to Team Kerri Einarson.[178] A month later, Homan and her rink represented Canada at the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships. There, the team took home the gold medal after stealing a single point in the 10th end of the final, following a measurement, beating South Korea's Gim Eun-ji 6–5. It was the first gold medal for Canada on the women's side.[179][180] The team had gone undefeated in the event.[181] A week after the pan continentals, Homan won her career 16th Grand Slam, when she defeated Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni, 7–5 in the final of the Canadian Open. The team had gone undefeated again, winning all seven of their games.[182]
^ abEvent occurred in the 2011 calendar year, but was billed as the 2012 edition.
^Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no official money ranking for this season. Homan won $25,000 at the Champions Cup and $25,000 at the Players' Championship, the only two tour events she played in.
^ abcFollowing the 2020–21 season, tour money rankings were no longer published. Ranking displayed is the end of season World Curling Federation team ranking
^Homan's rink was invited to play in the 2016 Elite 10, which was a men's-only Slam at the time. There, her team won one game in the round robin (against Charley Thomas), and lost three, missing the playoffs.[67][295]
^Scales, Linda (March 14, 2017). "Curlers ready to rock". University of Ottawa. Archived from the original on December 31, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
^"Women's Cumulative Stats". The Morning Roar. Canadian Curling Association. November 14, 2009. p. 8. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
^"The Final Four"(PDF). The Morning Cup. No. 5. Canadian Curling Association. December 4, 2011. p. 14. Archived(PDF) from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
^Lamoureux, Danny (May 7, 2013). "Team Rachel Homan". Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings Winnipeg 2013. Curling Canada. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2020.