Team Homan focused on process, not past dominance, in pressure-packed Olympic season

Over the last couple of years, there has been much chatter among curling fans about just how dominant Team Homan has been. 

They totalled 142 wins against just 15 losses during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons combined. They won Canada’s first world curling title since 2018 and then made it two in a row. They reached the final in all five Grand Slam of Curling events last season, winning two of them. 

Even Team Tirinzoni of Switzerland, the second-ranked team in the world which had won four straight world titles from 2019 to 2023, had to acknowledge the reign of the “Homan Empire”—skip Rachel Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, and alternate Rachelle Brown. 

But the members of Team Homan pay little heed to all the hype. Asked to describe their recent command of the international curling scene, Wilkes calls it the “icing on top”. 

“For us, it’s just the process, and the wins and losses are a result of our work and what we do on the ice.” 

Fleury concurs, pointing out the importance of the trust and mutual respect they’ve developed for each other as teammates. 

“Even games that we win, there’s always stuff we can learn. And whether we win or lose, we just like to talk about all our games, see what we could do better next time,” said Fleury. 

This past spring, Team Homan became the first Canadian women’s team to win back-to-back world curling titles since Sandra Schmirler’s rink in 1993-1994, putting them in the company of some legendary names of the game.  

While Wilkes says it’s “a little surreal” to be two-time reigning world champions, she and Fleury are quick to recognize the achievement as the culmination of a lot of hard work, something their team takes great pride in. 

“But we also want to keep raising the bar, keep doing more. We’re not done yet,” said Fleury. 

The build to be the best 

They say one of their team’s strengths is the ability to support each other through the highs and the lows. Homan and Miskew have a long history together, curling as teammates for more than two decades. They won their first world title in 2017 and made their Olympic debuts together at PyeongChang 2018. Wilkes came aboard during the 2020-21 season, followed by Fleury in 2022-23 after she had finished the previous season as the top-ranked skip in Canada.

Despite their separate histories of success, it wasn’t immediately smooth sailing when Fleury became part of the core four. 

“I think our first year was a lot of experimenting and trying new stuff, like we shifted positions and everything and we were all learning about each other and our strengths,” Fleury said of a season that was good, but wasn’t “super high performing”. At that time, Fleury was named the skip, but Homan still threw the fourth stones. Gradually, they became more comfortable with each other and figured out where everyone fit best in terms of position and role. 

“I love playing third. You get to do a little bit of everything. You get to communicate with the front end. You get to do some sweeping. I love the strategy part of the game,” said Fleury. “It’s really like kind of being a caddy to Rachel, playing that support role to Rachel and helping her make those final big pressure shots.”

The biggest bonspiel this season is undoubtedly the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. But for Canadian teams, they first have to win a super pressure-packed tournament—the Canadian Curling Trials. 

With Team Homan’s recent track record, it would be all too easy to look beyond the trials and towards the prospect of adding an Olympic gold medal to their trophy cases. But Fleury and Wilkes say they are avoiding doing that by focusing on process, practice, and communication. 

“What happens will happen at the Olympic trials. But we just want to go in there and know that we’ve prepared the best that we could. Anything can happen that week,” said Fleury. 

Attending the Team Canada Olympic Lab in May, where athletes who were hopeful to qualify for Milano Cortina 2026 gathered for various information sharing sessions, Wilkes viewed it as an opportunity to plan. 

“If we do achieve our goal, when we do succeed, then we’re prepared, then we’re ready, and we know what to expect and what those next few months will be like because it is such a tight turnaround.” 

The biggest event before the biggest event

The Canadian Curling Trials, taking place November 22-30 in Halifax, will likely have more eyes on them than any curling competition that has taken place during this current Olympic cycle. In the past, these trials have produced a few surprises, with the top team on paper not always taking the top prize. There’s something uniquely special about the once-in-a-quadrennial event. 

“It’s every four years, right? The Olympics is something we aspire to in our sport, for sure. And when you only get that opportunity every four years, it makes it something to really strive for. Everyone’s always playing their best come the Olympic trials because everyone wants the same thing. So I’d say the competition is at the highest,” said Fleury.  

“It’s such a pressure cooker, right?” Wilkes said, noting that everything is just a little bit heightened at the trials. “And with any sport, you can be as prepared as you can be, but luck comes into play a little bit. You can’t control everything. 

One big change to the trials competition format this year is that the final is now best-of-three games, a move Fleury and Wilkes support. 

“You could have one bad game and still earn the Olympic spot, where a sudden death game is a little bit scary, if you’re just a little off that day or there’s a shot that doesn’t go your way,” said Fleury.

“That sudden death game was a tough one.” 

Fleury would know. She was on the losing side four years ago when a berth at Beijing 2022 was on the line. She had skipped her team to an undefeated record throughout the round robin, earning the bye to the final. Fleury had the hammer in the extra end, but her last stone wrecked on a guard, handing the Olympic spot to Jennifer Jones. 

“As far as losses go in our sport, that’s a pretty tough one. But then to be able to come back, form a new team, and find success was pretty rewarding,” Fleury reflected. 

Wilkes points out that in a one-game final, the team that got the bye by having the best round robin record could actually be at a disadvantage against a team fresh off a semifinal win in which they had another chance to learn the ice. 

“So to have the opportunity for it to be a best-of-three kind of takes that advantage of winning the semifinal away and levels the playing field for both teams in the final,” she explained. 

No matter what the season ahead holds, the members of Team Homan will always be proud to represent Canada and provide inspiration to the next generation of curlers. 

“If I think back to myself as a young curler and looking at the athletes who were [wearing the maple leaf] it was so inspiring to see them do it. And I think that really grounds me in those moments when I’m the one who gets the opportunity,” said Wilkes. “If I’m feeling frustrated or down or whatever, bringing myself back to that and just what an honour it is and how there’s little kids out there who are looking up to us, that’s really grounding for me.”

Rapid Fire with Tracy Fleury and Sarah Wilkes 

How would you describe your teammates? 

Rachel Homan 

• Fleury: She’s just determined and committed to high performance and excellence in all that she does and is a very hard worker. 
• Wilkes: The first thing that came to my mind was just determined. So determined. 

Emma Miskew

• Fleury: Emma’s just such a well rounded player, she’s got all the shots and she rises to occasion, those big moments, those big games she’s there and she’s also extremely organized and really provides that to the team. 
• Wilkes: She’s light hearted, she’s lots of fun for sure.

Rachelle Brown 

• Fleury: She wears so many hats on our team. She has such a great knowledge of the game. She’s competed at the highest levels and just brings this energy, really positive and upbeat. 
• Wilkes: Good vibes. She organizes so much stuff for us. She takes on the things that just add pressure as the week goes on at those big events. She does a ton of stuff during games like tracking different trends to keep us informed of what the ice is doing, what our opponents are doing. 

What is your first memory of watching the Olympics? 

Wilkes: I was in elementary school and I had chicken pox, so I got to stay home and the Olympics were on. What timing. It was perfect. It was Nagano. Mike Harris was the [skip of the men’s team] and so I actually grew up curling at the same club as him. So I got to stay home and watch him compete in the Olympics. 

Fleury: Sandra Schmirler winning the gold medal [at Nagano 1998]. So inspiring.