(From left) Canada's coach Viktor Kjell, Canada's Rachel Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes, Rachel Brown and coach Renee Sonnenberg pose with Canada's flag after winning the bronze medal game in women's curling at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday.MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images
Rachel Homan has earned a long-awaited Olympic medal.
Homan’s Canadian women’s curling rink beat Tabitha Peterson’s American team 10-7 on Saturday in a back-and-forth bronze medal game at the Winter Games.
On the strength of triples in the sixth and eighth ends, the team of Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes delivered Canada’s first curling medal of the 2026 Winter Games.
All four women, who are often stoic on ice like their skip, folded into long jubilant hugs when it was official, then raced over to scoop their small children into the celebration.
It’s a big moment for Homan, who is largely considered the world’s best female curler. Yet until now, she was missing an Olympic medal after falling short at the Games in 2018 and 2022. It was a second attempt for Miskew, who also played in 2018.
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The four Canadian women, back-to-back world champions, came to Cortina for gold. But it was a grind. They began the round robin 1-3, caught shrapnel from the Olympic curling controversy that began on the men’s side, and suffered a crushing semi-final loss to Sweden on Friday. But Team Homan refocused and seized bronze a day later.
“When things get hard, it’s easy to fold or to let up, and we did the opposite,” said Homan. “We stuck together, we even got, closer … we fought for each other, we fought for our country. I’m just so incredibly proud of our week, our story and the medal.”
Canada had not made the podium in women’s curling at the Games since Jennifer Jones led her rink to gold in Sochi in 2014.
It’s a big day for Homan and Miskew, who have curled together as teammates for 25 years, back to their junior days.
Team Canada’s Rachel Homan and Sarah Wilkes celebrate after defeating the United States to win the bronze medal in women’s curling on Saturday.Candice Ward/The Canadian Press
“We won an Olympic medal, and that’s something that we’ve never done before,” said Miskew. “I’m really proud of how we stayed tough and were resilient and battled back, even when it didn’t look great. And I’m sure that a lot of people probably wrote us off.”
It was a tight bronze medal game with Peterson’s rink, including lead Taylor Anderson-Heide, second Tara Peterson, and third Cory Thiesse. They had beat Canada in the round robin. Both teams were coming off heartache from Friday’s semis.
“I think part of it was just feeling the feelings, right, like being disappointed, and that’s okay to be disappointed, but then coming together and regrouping and refocusing for today,” said Wilkes. “We rested, spent some time with family, came back together, and were ready to go today.”
They traded singles for a few ends and the U.S. had a 3-2 lead at the half-game break. The Americans, who had beckoned for crowd noise throughout the Olympic bonspiel, were frequently raising brooms to call for applause.
The fans of both countries roared with flags.
Canada broke things open in the sixth end. Peterson’s hit and roll was too thin, ticking a Canadian stone but letting it linger in the house. Homan made her pay, with a hit to score three.
Team Peterson leveled the game in the seventh, scoring two.
When the American skip failed to clear enough Canadian stones in the eighth end, Homan put a soft draw into the paint to score a triple.
In the ninth, the U.S. slashed the big deficit with a draw to score two and pull within one, enough to add tension to the final end. But Peterson wrecked on a guard with her last stone in the final end, which cemented the Canadian win.
Canada's Sarah Wilkes, right, and Tracy Fleury hold their kids as they celebrate Saturday's bronze medal Olympic win.Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press
Fleury, who was the latest to join the team in 2022, reflected on how they built along the journey.
“I’m really proud of what this team did when we came together as we were all open to trying a lot of new things,” said Fleury. “Then it all just kind of clicked and came together.”
Team Homan must wait to receive its medals on Sunday after Sweden and Switzerland play in the gold medal game.
“This is just a pinnacle. It’s a big, huge check, off a long time goal,” said Team Homan’s coach Heather Nedohin. “I can’t wait to see them tomorrow on the podium. They’ve earned it.”
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