Canada's Homan wraps up round robin with wins, falls short of bye at curling worlds

Canada's skip Rachel Homan releases the stone during the match against Italy at the World Women's Curling Championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

UIJEONGBU-SI — Tracy Fleury isn’t sweating the fact Canada fell short of a semifinal bye at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship.

Canada’s Rachel Homan rink closed its round-robin schedule with a pair of wins to finish tied for second in the standings with host South Korea at 10-2. Switzerland led the 13-team field at 11-1.

Korea’s Eunji Gim, however, earned the second semifinal bye for winning her head-to-head matchup against Homan.

“An extra game to get the feel of the ice? That’s fine,” Fleury, Canada’s vice-skip, said in a press release. “We’ve been playing all two-game days lately, so what’s one more? We’re ready.”

Homan and her top-ranked Ottawa-based rink of Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes beat Italy 9-2 and China 7-5 on Friday.

The defending champion Canadians will take on Scotland’s Sophie Jackson (7-5) on Saturday for a spot in the semifinal. The winner will meet Korea.

Scotland defeated Canada 8-7 on the tournament’s opening weekend.

“We tried not to get down about the (loss to Scotland) and just learn from it,” Fleury said. “Since then, we’ve been trending in the right direction, so we’re feeling good.”

Sweden (9-3) will meet China (7-5) in the other qualification match, with the winner advancing to play Switzerland in the semifinals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2025.