Rachel Homan's rink feeling support from Canada, all the way in South Korea

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Rachel Homan is feeling the love of home and family from halfway around the planet.

That’s quite the long-distance hug for the superstar skip and her Canadian teammates.

But it’s big in their bid to defend the title they own at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea.

“My littlest one, he’s a year-and-a-half,” said Homan, of young Briggs back home in Alberta. “I guess (Tuesday), he was pointing at the TV and yelling, ‘Mom.’

“So that’s really cute and special.”

For sure, it’s really heart-warming for the mother of three.

Because it can’t be easy being away for such a long stretch from Briggs, daughter Bowyn, 3, and son Ryatt, 5 — and hubby Shawn, too — even though it’s all in the name of fame and national pride.

“We’re used to it by now,” said Homan, who curled her 100th game internationally for Canada late Wednesday in an 8-6 victory over Norway’s Marianne Roervik.

No. 101 followed early Thursday, and it was a biggie, given Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (8-1) and her rink from Curling Club Aarau — about an hour west of Zürich — went in undefeated but suffered their first loss of the event to Homan. It was a 7-6 heavyweight bout between the top-two world powers — Homan first, and Tirinzoni No. 2 — that took 11 ends to complete.

Canada (7-2) then lined up against Japan’s Sayaka Yoshimura (3-6) later Thursday (6 a.m. ET, TSN).

“It sucks every time,” continued Homan, of leaving family behind for international competitions. “But we know we’ve got a job to do here. We’ve got goals and dreams of representing Canada.

“And we know our families are really supportive. We’ll get to spend lots of time with them when we get home.”

Of course, they’re hoping to return home with a second straight crown from the worlds, after last winter’s successful score from the event in Sydney, N.S.

With that championship being held closer to home, it meant plenty of family on hand to ride the emotions of the week — mostly positive during what was a 13-1 run to the crown.

But a year later, it’s a team learning to deal without the same level of loved ones on hand at the Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink.

“Yeah … it’s weird with the time change,” said Homan’s vice-skip, Tracy Fleury, who is mom to four-year-old Nina with husband Brent. “But usually when we’re going to bed, they’re waking up or vice versa. So … yeah … we’ve been getting a lot of FaceTimes, and that helps, for sure.”

In stark contrast, the Korean squad — which handed Canada its second loss of the week in an 11-7 decision Wednesday — is right from the worlds’ host city.

So there’s no doubt family on hand in Uijeongbu has boosted them to the success they’re enjoying at 7-1 heading into Thursday’s penultimate day of round robin action.

But, of course, there’s always the pressure that comes with playing at home.

“We are eager to take home our first-ever gold (from worlds),” told Korea skip Gim Eun-ji in an exclusive interview last week with Olympics.com.

“I wouldn’t be honest if I said I don’t feel any pressure in front of a home crowd. However, we already experienced that pressure at the Asian (Winter) Games (winning gold in February in Harbin, China), so I believe that the colour of our medal will depend on how quickly we overcome that feeling at worlds.”

HOW CANADA BEAT SWITZERLAND

Team Homan drew for the game-winning point in the 11th end for the victory.

The decision positioned themselves to earn one of the two available byes directly to the semifinals. The top six teams advance to the playoffs, with the bottom four first competing in a qualifying round for a spot in the semis.

Canada showcased its resiliency in the win against Switzerland. Team Tirinzoni had two opportunities to end the game against Canada, but left the door open for the comeback.

With the game tied in the eighth end, Switzerland missed a golden opportunity to put the game away. Canada buried their shot stone in the back eight-foot, but Switzerland had a tap for a potential four-ender. Paetz came out of the hack with too much heat, and her sweepers couldn’t carve the stone enough to remove the Canadian rock fully. The Swiss settled for just one, giving Canada a fresh burst of life.

Canada scored a deuce in the ninth end to take the lead. However, Switzerland had an opportunity to win the game in the 10th. Team Homan was light on a draw to sit two, and Swiss fourth Alina Paetz had an in-off to win. Switzerland connected with the target but pushed its game-winning point too far out of the scoring zone for a single and tie game.

“The turning point was probably her miss for that four,” Homan said. “Honestly, I don’t know if it was there. She squeaked the guard as much as she could, and I thought we put ours in almost a perfect spot, like maybe a foot higher. But other than that, it was exactly where we wanted it and made her make a tough one. I just don’t know if it was there. So I think that was the turning point to save the end.

“We made a lot of big shots when it looked bad early. We let a couple twos get away from us, too. We had some opportunities we didn’t quite capitalize on. It took us 11 ends to beat them, and I’m just really proud of my team for sticking together and trying to make the next one.”

While Canada started with hammer, Switzerland had an answer for every Canadian attempt at scoring. Team Tirinzoni forced Team Homan to a single in the second and then jumped ahead with a deuce in the third when Canada stuffed a soft-weight double attempt, leaving a draw for two.

Homan replied with two in the fourth, which kicked off a middle half of the game with the teams exchanging deuces. Paetz made a hit and jam, providing Canada with the golden opportunity to score two. In the fifth end, Homan and Paetz exchanged double attempts, with the latter helping the Swiss earn a score of two.

Canada blanked the sixth but was forced to one in the seventh.

HOW CANADA BEAT NORWAY

The 8-6 win over Norway was Homan’s 80th in Canada’s colours on the world landscape, giving her a remarkable .800 winning clip.

“Look at that … if only I was 100-0,” joked Homan. “I’m always happy to represent Canada, and I’m glad I’ve been able to play that many games for Canada.”

More importantly, the victory Wednesday elevated Homan, Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and national coaches Viktor Kjell and Renée Sonnenberg to 6-2 in the standings and kept its share of third place — tied with Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg heading into Thursday’s action — in the 13-team field at the 2025 worlds.

It was earned in the 10th end with an open hit for two.

“Really important,” Homan said. “We couldn’t drop that loss for sure.”

Canada started the game with an early lead and maintained control through the middle ends, but Norway developed a late-game surge that put Team Homan’s win at risk.

Trailing by three, Norway capitalized in the eighth end after Canada’s attempt at a corner freeze to create a stagger landed on the nose instead. This left a straight-back angle, giving Norway a short runback for two points, narrowing the gap to just one.

Team Roervik tied the game in the ninth end, after fourth Kristin Skaslien executed an exceptional tapback through a narrow port to sit one. Canada attempted a slash for two but missed wide, allowing Norway to score and even the match.

“We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” Homan said. “And the game was real close.”

Canada had an unconventional force in a first end that featured just about everything. It started when Miskew’s takeout attempt picked and took a 90-degree turn to the boards. Later, Canada attempted a takeout to sit two but jammed on a stone behind the house, leaving a Norway stone in play. Norway missed its final two shots, first a flashed takeout and then stuck around on the blank attempt for a single point.

In the second end, Team Homan had several counters on the wings but couldn’t get them into play due to a well-placed draw by Norway.

Canada took a single, but then stole three in the third. Homan nailed a hit-and-roll behind cover and forced Norway into a difficult come around. Team Roervik was light and over-curled, wrecking on the front Canadian counter.

Canada maintained firm control throughout much of the game and didn’t need to take risks. They scored single points in the fifth and seventh ends while holding Norway to just one point in both the fourth and sixth ends.

EXTRA ENDS

Homan’s international success (101 games played, 81 wins) ranks second behind Jennifer Jones (112 games played, 87 wins) among able-bodied Canadian women’s curlers. Canadian wheelchair curler Ina Forrest has the most Canadian caps among women’s curlers, with 204 games played at World Wheelchair Championship events and Paralympic Games … Sweden had a two-win Wednesday at worlds to lift them even with Canada in the standings after respective 7-6 and 8-2 decisions over Lithuania (0-9) and Italy (3-6). Meanwhile, Korea’s two-win day, including an 7-3 result over Denmark (4-4), kept them ahead of Canada and Sweden. Scotland (5-4) also won twice on the day — 6-5 over Japan and 7-6 over USA (3-5). As did China (5-3) — 7-1 over USA and 8-2 over Lithuania … Other games Wednesday saw: Switzerland knock off Norway (4-5) 8-4; Japan top Denmark 8-2; and Italy (3-6) take down Türkiye (0-8) 8-6 … The round robin wrapped up Wednesday at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Summerside, P.E.I. It’s on to the playoffs now with the 12 teams qualifying from the 32-team field that opened the event Sunday. The first round goes early Friday with the Nos. 5-12 seeds facing off against one another (2 p.m.), followed by winners of those games going up against the top-four seeds — pool winners Kira Brunton/Jacob Horgan (7-0), Laura Walker/Kirk Muyres (7-0), Jennifer Jones/Brent Laing (6-1) and Nancy Martin/Steve Laycock (5-2) — later Friday (6 p.m.), with select games live-streamed on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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