Few curlers have enjoyed a more successful start to the winter of 2023-2024 than local star Tracy Fleury, skip Rachel Homan and their rink that also features Emma Miskew (second) and Sarah Wilkes (lead). Winners of 32 of the 36 games that they have played thus far, Team Homan have now captured three Grand Slam of Curling events and also made it to the finals of the KIOTI National.
Last week in Saskatoon, the second ranked team in the world won six of seven games, bouncing Isabella Wrana of Sweden 8-3 in the quarter-finals, doubling Manitoban Jennifer Jones 8-4 in the semis before taking down Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland (#1 in the world) by that same score in the final.
Prior to that, Team Homan burst out of the gates in the Prairie province with victories over Clancy Grandy of British Columbia (6-1), Silvana Tirinzoni (7-3) and Anna Hasselborg of Sweden (6-5) before suffering their only setback (8-6 to Eunjung Kim of South Korea) to close out their preliminary round games.
This marked the third time that Fleury had claimed the hardware at the event, finishing on top in both 2019 and 2021 with teammates Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish while Homan has now reached that pinnacle four times, although her previous triumphs date back to 2012-2013-2015.
Fleury and company will soon turn their attention to the 2024 Ontario Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships set for January 22nd to the 28th in Dorchester, the same week during with a new NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association) women’s champion will be crowned in Little Current.