Undefeated Team Canada first to clinch playoff berth at World Women’s Curling Championship
With two full days of round robin games still to be played, Team Canada is into the playoffs at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
That’s what happens when you win your first eight games.
On Wednesday night, Canada – represented by skip Rachel Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, and alternate Rachel Brown – kept its win streak alive with a come-from-behind victory. They scored five in the 10th end to defeat Türkiye 9-5.
Down 5-4 heading into the final end, Homan had no room for error on her last two throws against a two-win Turkish team that had proven to be a challenge. She gave full credit to her sweepers for being able to make the back-to-back runbacks that were needed.
Earlier in the day, Canada had defeated Japan 7-2 to remain undefeated after two huge wins on Tuesday. Homan and company had had to face the tournament’s two other undefeated teams. By the end of Tuesday, Canada stood alone at the top of the standings with a spotless record.
First came an 8-7 win against Italy in the morning draw. But there were plenty more headlines after the nighttime draw against Switzerland. The Swiss – led by skip Silvana Tirinzoni and last-rock thrower Alina Paetz – have won the last four world titles while accumulating a record 42 straight wins. That streak came to an end as Team Homan earned the 8-5 victory.
The Canadians had opened the home worlds on Saturday with a 7-6 win over Sweden followed by a 7-4 victory against Denmark. They played just one game on Sunday which ended up as a 10-6 win over the United States. Monday was also a one-game day as they triumphed 9-4 over Norway.
The next goal is to finish the preliminary round as one of the top two teams to secure a spot directly in the semifinals.
Canada has four games left to play as they face Estonia (1-7) and New Zealand (1-7) on Thursday before finishing up against Scotland (3-6) and Korea (6-2) on Friday.
The semifinals will be played at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. The teams ranked third to sixth after the round robin will have playoff qualification games earlier in the day to see who advances into the semis.
The bronze medal game will be played at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, with the gold medal game at 4:00 p.m. ET.
With a top-six finish guaranteed, Team Homan have also secured themselves a spot in the four-player Canadian Curling Trials that will take place in November 2025 and determine who will be Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026.