Curling: Canada’s Homan wins gold at World Championship

Canada’s Rachel Homan defeated Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 7-5 on Sunday to win gold on the world girls’s curling championship.

Homan made a break up to attain three factors within the ninth finish. The Swiss did not have a shot for a game-tying deuce within the tenth finish and conceded earlier than throwing their remaining stone.

The win ended Canada’s six-year title drought at this occasion. It was Homan’s first world crown since taking gold on the 2017 playdowns in Beijing.

Jennifer Jones was the final Canadian to win world gold, ending first in 2018 in North Bay, Ont. 

Homan and her workforce of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes picked up the place they left off after operating the desk on the nationwide championship final month.

Canada was 11-1 in round-robin play at Centre 200 and beat South Korea’s Eunji Gim within the semifinal.

That arrange the top-ranked Ottawa-based rink for a showdown with the second-ranked Tirinzoni, who had received 4 straight world titles. 

Homan’s aspect entered with confidence after profitable all 4 head-to-head conferences in opposition to Tirinzoni this season. The Canadian additionally ended Tirinzoni’s 42-game win streak at this competitors earlier within the week. 

As first seed, Canada began with hammer however the Swiss compelled Homan to attract for one within the opening finish.

The host workforce made some small errors within the early going. 

Miskew hit and rolled out within the second finish and Homan’s freeze try was barely off. That allowed Swiss fourth Alina Paetz to make a tender hit for 2.

Canada was compelled once more within the third finish and Homan’s remaining stone undercurled within the fourth to arrange a Swiss hit for 2.

Paetz was heavy on back-to-back throws within the fifth finish to permit Canada to drag even with a pair of its personal.

Two blanks preceded an eighth finish with rocks in play. Fleury made successful that rolled frozen on the button and Tirinzoni could not blast out the Canadian stones. 

Homan made successful to sit down 4 and Paetz was compelled to attract for one. 

Within the essential ninth finish, Homan made two nice pictures that turned the sport. 

Her rocket double-takeout left Canada sitting three. Paetz made a double-takeout that left Canada as shot stone with two Swiss stones on the again of the 12-foot ring.

Canada’s Rachel Homan, left, celebrates with teammates after profitable the 2024 World Ladies’s Curling Championship. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Homan tapped her personal rock close to the highest of the home and each stones rolled in to attain three, thrilling the near-sellout crowd of 4,373.

The win improved Homan’s season report to 62-6. She improved to 24-8 in profession head-to-head matchups in opposition to Tirinzoni.

Earlier, Gim defeated Italy’s Stefania Constantini 6-3 to win the bronze medal.

Homan and Miskew had been named competitors all-stars at their respective positions. Sweden’s Sara McManus took the nod at third and Swiss lead Carole Howald was named prime lead.

Total attendance on the nine-day occasion was 45,602. Uijeongbu, South Korea will host subsequent 12 months’s world girls’s championship.

The world males’s curling championship begins Saturday in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., will skip the Canadian workforce.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 24, 2024