Rachel Homan

Bantam and Junior (2003–2010)

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Homan began curling at the age of five, playing in the Little Rock program at the Rideau Curling Club.^[5] Homan began her dominance in the sport when she was bantam aged, winning four straight provincial bantam championships from 2003 to 2006. She had won four championships while no other curler had won even twice.

Homan's first two years at the junior level were somewhat disappointing, as her top-rated team failed to win a provincial championship. In 2007, her team lost the provincial final to Hollie Nicol's rink. In 2008, her team lost in the final to Danielle Inglis. However, these losses were allayed by a provincial junior championship in 2009, earning her team a berth at the 2009 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. At the Canadian Juniors, she skipped the Ontario team to a 10–2 record after the round robin, giving her rink a bye to the final. However, she lost to the defending champion Kaitlyn Lawes rink from Manitoba in the final. Homan won the 2010 provincial championship and went on to represent Ontario at the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. At the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Rachel Homan, with Emma Miskew, Laura Crocker, and Lynn Kreviazuk, won the Junior National Title in dramatic fashion by completing the event with an undefeated record of 13 wins and 0 losses – only the fourth women's team to do so. The team represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Curling Championships in Flims, Switzerland. The team dominated the tournament, losing just their final round robin game. However, the team came up short in the final, losing to Sweden.

At the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon, Homan skipped her Ontario rink to a gold medal. (See Curling at the 2007 Canada Games.)

Prior to graduating from juniors in 2010, Homan's junior team was too young to participate in Scotties Tournament of Hearts playdowns, but this did not stop her from participating in Women's World Curling Tour events. Homan's top accomplishments in the tour have included winning two straight Southwestern Ontario Women's Charity Cashspiels. In 2007, she defeated then-World Champion Jennifer Jones, and in 2008 she beat the Chinese national team, skipped by Wang Bingyu. Her team earned $11,000 for each win. In 2009, she won the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, winning $5,500 for her team. Later that year, her team participated in the Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials, where her team finished with a record of three wins and three losses, and therefore not qualifying for the "Roar of the Rings", Canada's Olympic Trials.

In 2009, her rink was named the World Curling Tour's "rookie team of the year." ^[6]

Early women's (2010–2012)

In her first year of eligibility, the Homan rink qualified and won the 2011 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. At the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Homan skipped the Ontario team to a 4th place finish. She finished the round robin in 3rd place, and lost in the bronze medal game to Nova Scotia's Heather Smith-Dacey after previously beating her in the 3 vs. 4 game. A semi-final loss to Saskatchewan's Amber Holland eliminated her from the finals.

In April 2011, Homan played third for her brother Mark, and won the 2012 Ontario Mixed Championship. The team which also consists of Brian Fleischhaker and teammate Alison Kreviazuk represented Ontario at the 2012 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship which was played in November 2011. The team finished with an 8–5 record and out of the playoffs.

Also in April 2011, Homan's women's team made it to her first Grand Slam final of her career, when she lost to Jennifer Jones in the final of the 2011 Players' Championship. Later that year she would play in her first Canada Cup where her team finished with a 2–4 record.

Homan once again qualified for the provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2012. Her team went undefeated throughout the round robin. However, the team would be bested in the final by Tracy Horgan's rink from Sudbury. Homan, who was up one with hammer, missed a draw to the button to clinch the victory on her final rock. Instead, she gave up three and lost.

Scotties champions and world bronze medalists (2012–2013)

The 2012–13 curling season was Homan's most successful to date on the World Curling Tour. In her first Grand Slam event of the season, the 2012 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, her team lost to Sherry Middaugh in the final. In the second Grand Slam event of the season, the 2012 Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic, Homan's rink once again lost in the final, this time to Stefanie Lawton. The team lost in the semi-final of the third Slam, the 2012 Colonial Square Ladies Classic but followed it up with her first ever Grand Slam victory at the 2012 Masters of Curling where she beat Chelsea Carey in the final. Outside of the Grand Slams, Homan won her 2nd Royal LePage OVCA Women's Fall Classic of her career. Later in the season, she qualified for her second Scotties Tournament of Hearts by going undefeated at the 2013 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Homan began the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts by winning the Ford Hot Shots skills competition.^[7] The Homan rink tore through the competition representing Ontario at the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kingston, Ontario. The team lost just one game, to Manitoba's Jennifer Jones. This gave the rink a 10–1 record, 2nd behind Manitoba who went undefeated. However in their first playoff game against Jones, the Homan rink made amends by defeating Jones 8–5. This put the Homan team in the final, where they faced Jones once again, and this time would beat them again, by a score of 9–6. With the win, the Homan rink becomes the first Ottawa-based team to win the Canadian women's curling championship. The win earned Homan and her team the right to represent Canada at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, Latvia. At the World championships, the Homan rink led Canada to an 8–3 round robin finish, which put them in third place. In the playoffs, they beat the United States (skipped by Erika Brown) in the 3 vs. 4 game, but they then lost to Scotland (skipped by Eve Muirhead in the semi-final, after Homan missed her last shot of the game, jamming a double takeout. After the loss, Homan would go on to beat the Americans once again, this time in the bronze medal game. The Homan rink wrapped up the season by losing in the quarter final of the 2013 Players' Championship.

Scotties repeat champions and world silver medalists (2013–14)

The defending Canadian champion Homan rink had a less successful start to their season in 2013–14. The team failed to win World Curling Tour event until winning the 2013 Masters, where she beat Muirhead in the final. Up until this point, Muirhead's rink had Homan's number, having also defeated her team in the semi-finals of the 2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic. Having made the playoffs in every Grand Slam event in 2012–13, the team failed to miss the playoffs at the 2013 Colonial Square Ladies Classic.

Homan's success over the last couple of seasons qualified her team for an automatic entry at the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. At the Trials, the team sneaked into the playoffs with a 4–3 round robin record, which was good enough for second place. However, in the semi-final of the event, the team would be defeated by Sherry Middaugh, ending the team's 2014 Olympic hopes.

As defending Scotties champions from 2013, the Homan rink earned the right to represent Team Canada at the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Montreal. The event was notable for the absence of the Jennifer Jones rink who was competing at the Olympics. Nevertheless, the Homan team went through the entire tournament without a single loss, defeating Alberta's Val Sweeting in the final. Homan became the youngest skip ever to win back-to-back Scotties. Homan was awarded the Sandra Schmirler Most Valuable Player Award, and ended the event with a stellar 90% shooting percentage.

Homan's 2014 Scotties win earned her team a berth at the 2014 Ford World Women's Curling Championship in Saint John, New Brunswick. The team had a better event than the previous worlds, as they only lost one round robin game to finish first place heading into the playoffs. The team defeated Switzerland's Binia Feltscher in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game, but were unable to beat them again when they faced each other in the final match. Homan and the rest of her Canadian team thus had to settle for a silver medal.

The Homan rink ended the season with a loss in the final of the 2014 Players' Championship against the Olympic gold medalist Jennifer Jones. The match marked the last game for second Alison Kreviazuk on the team, as she moved to Sweden to be with her boyfriend Fredrik Lindberg who plays for Niklas Edin. Kreviazuk had played for Homan since they were bantam aged. Kreviazuk was replaced by Joanne Courtney from Edmonton.

Joanne Courtney era (2014–present)

The Homan rink found less success in the 2014–15 curling season after adding new second Joanne Courtney to the team. The team did not win any Slam events, losing in the finals of the 2014 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic (against Jennifer Jones) and the 2014 Canadian Open of Curling (against Eve Muirhead). The team also lost in the final of the 2014 Canada Cup of Curling against Valerie Sweeting. As defending champions, the team represented Team Canada at the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The team finished the round robin in 4th place with a 7–4 record. In the playoffs they would lose to Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton in the 3 vs. 4 game, but rebounded in the bronze medal game in a re-match against the Lawton rink, beating them 7–5. That season, the team would win one World Curling Tour event, the Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown held in March. That season, the team also won the inaugural 2016 Women's All-Star Curling Skins Game, taking home $52,000.

The team found much more success in the 2015–16 curling season, but were still wrought with some disappointment. They began the season with a win in the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, followed by a loss in the first Slam, the 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge against Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni. The team then went on to win six Tour events in a row, the Stockholm Ladies Cup, the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic (no longer a Slam), the 2015 Masters of Curling, the 2015 National, the 2015 Canada Cup of Curling and the 2015 Canadian Open of Curling, amassing a huge lead in both the World Curling Tour Order of Merit and Money standings in the process. After this impressive run, the team's success seemed to dry-up. They were upset in the finals of the 2016 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts against their club mates, the Jenn Hanna team, meaning the World #1 ranked Homan team would not be able to play in the national championships that year. The team was invited to play in the 2016 Elite 10 men's Grand Slam event, making history in the process. The team would only win one game in the event though, beating Charley Thomas' team. The team ended the season losing against Jennifer Jones in the final of the 2016 Humpty's Champions Cup. The Homan rink's success over the course of the season meant the team would end the season ranked number one in the world in both the Women's money list and order of merit standings.

The 2016–17 curling season was one of Homan's best season to date. Her team began the season winning their first event, the 2016 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic. They followed this up by winning the Canad Inns Women's Classic the following month. A week later, the team lost in the final of the 2016 Masters of Curling against the Allison Flaxey rink. A month later, they lost in the final of the 2016 Canada Cup of Curling. In playdown play, the rink struggled in the round robin of the 2017 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, losing two games, and finishing second behind Jacqueline Harrison. However, they won both their playoff matches, including defeating Harrison in the final, qualifying the team to represent Ontario at that year's Scotties. Team Homan defeated Manitoba's Michelle Englot to win the 2017 Scotties, her third Scotties title in four years. She won in an extra end in what many considered to be one of the most exciting Scotties finals ever. Both teams went 10-1 in the round robin, with Homan's lone loss coming at Englot's expense. Englot beat Homan once again in the 1 vs. 2 game, forcing Homan to beat Northern Ontario (Krista McCarville) in the seminal to force the re-match against Englot. At the 2017 world championship in Beijing Homan's rink became only the third in tournament history to go unbeaten in round-robin play, joining fellow Canadian Colleen Jones from 2003 and Sweden's Anette Norberg from 2005.^[8] She ended up going unbeaten right to the end, the only team to do so to date, winning the gold medal by beating Anna Sidorova (for the 3rd consecutive time with wins in the round robin, 1–2 playoff game, and final) 8–3 for the gold medal, her first world title and completing her medal set at worlds.^[4][9] The Homan rink finished the season by winning the 2017 Humpty's Champions Cup.

Homan began the 2017-18 curling season by winning the 2017 Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic and then the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic the following week. Homan and her team won the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in her hometown of Ottawa, defeating previously unbeaten Chelsea Carey. The Homan rink had lost just one game in the tournament, against Carey in the round robin. After her Trials win, the Homan rink began to struggle. In her first event since winning the trials, Homan curled just 64% at the 2018 Continental Cup of Curling as a member of Team North America. Her team's record at the event was 0-3-1, and she also lost in her mixed doubles match with Brett Gallant. Despite this, Team North America would win the event on a draw to the button by Brad Gushue, breaking a 30-30 tie. The team would then go on to play at the 2018 Winter Olympics where they started disastrously. Losing to the team from Denmark meant that Canada was 0-3 for the first time ever at an Olympics.^[10] The game against Denmark was marked with controversy when Denmark burned a rock as it was coming to a rest. Rather than letting the rock be adjusted Homan removed the stone.^[11] Joan McCusker commentating for CBC at the Olympics said of Homan's move that "I think that was a rash move to take it off. They should have left it in play. It doesn't look good on you."^[10] Homan and team would win their next three to stay in the fight for the medals but would lose their next two, with their fifth loss against Eve Muirhead officially eliminating them from medal contention. This made Homan's team the first Canadian Olympic curlers to not play for or win a medal.^[12] With the pressure off, the Team Homan won the final event of the year, the 2018 Humpty's Champions Cup.

Team Homan's 2018-19 curling season began by winning the first leg of the Curling World Cup, defeating Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in the final.

Former events

Men's events

*Homan's rink was invited to play in the 2016 Elite 10, which was the only men's only slam left on the tour, although it has since added a women's event. There, her team managed one win (over Charley Thomas) in the round robin, and lost three, missing the playoffs.