Rachel Homan of Ottawa, Ontario, skippered her team to the 2024 Canadian Open title in Red Deer, Alberta on Sunday. Homan’s team of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and top Sarah Wilkes defeated Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 5-4 in nine games.
In the final, it may not have been the best game for Homan from a strategic point of view. In the fifth round she was aiming for a single point rather than an empty one. At this point, her team took a 2-1 lead. Tirizoni then got her deuce in the sixth and then stole a point when Homan was unable to hit and poke her shot attempt. At the end of the day, Homan tied the game by four points in the eighth round and then won it in the ninth when fourth thrower Alina Patz struggled with her attempt at a draw.
Homan advanced through Pool B with a record of three wins and one loss. She defeated team Kate Cameron of Winnipeg, Manitoba (skipped by Chelsea Carey) 6-3, Isabelle Wrana of Sweden 7-3 and Delaney Strouse of the United States States 8-3. Homan defeated Eun-ji Gim of South Korea 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Canadian Olympic champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, Manitoba, 8-3 in the semifinals. Jones won the gold medal in women’s curling 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. This was Homan’s 15th Grand Slam title as a women’s ski jumper, the most of all time.
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