Canada’s Team Homan one win away from playoffs at 2026 Olympics

CORTINA d’AMPEZZO, Italy — The Canadian women’s curling team enters the final day of round-robin play at the 2026 Winter Olympics firmly in control of its playoff fate.

One more win secures playoff qualification for skip Rachel Homan and her team — third/vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown, team coach Heather Nedohin, and national coaches Viktor Kjell and Renée Sonnenberg — with the four-team playoffs beginning Friday.

Reaching this position wasn’t easy. On Wednesday night at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, Canada (5-3) edged Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini (2-6) 8-7 in an extra end to stay in control of its playoff chances.

Team Homan sealed the victory with a dramatic draw to the four-foot, as sweepers managed to drag the stone just far enough despite its early slowdown.

“That’s what we’ve been fighting for all week, is trying to be in control of our own destiny,” Homan said. “We just take as much as we can out of that game. The rocks were papered just a couple of days ago, so we’re still learning, still trying to move some rocks around and make sure that they’re in the best hands.”

Canada appeared firmly in control after the ninth end, when Team Homan scored two on an exceptional, spinning shot.

The throw navigated traffic and spun into a nest of stones on the button for a deuce. It was a perfectly executed shot from delivery to sweep and line call.

However, Italy responded with a three-ender in the 10th, forcing an extra end.

As a result, Thursday’s final round-robin game against South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim (5-3) at 8:05 a.m. (all times Eastern) is straightforward: win and advance.

Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg (8-2) and Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni (6-2) have already secured playoff spots.

Canada, South Korea, the U.S. (5-3), and Great Britain (4-4) are battling for the final two spots.

On the men’s side, Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs (7-1) of Calgary secured a second-place finish with an 8-3 win over Italy’s Team Joel Retornaz (4-4) on Wednesday afternoon.

Italy played nearly flawlessly in the first half, while Canada stayed within reach. But after a missed blank attempt in the fifth, Italy’s fortunes unravelled.

Retornaz’s missed blank in the fifth gifted Canada a steal of one. Unable to recover, Italy allowed Jacobs, vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Tyler Tardi, team coach Paul Webster, and national coach Jeff Stoughton to capitalize.

The Canadians then stole four in the sixth, and another in the seventh, before Italy conceded.

“It was a bit of a slow start for us. But we were battling a few stones that we didn’t love, especially in the front end. We weren’t really setting the boys up for much success,” second Gallant said.

“By the time we figured it out, the back end made some huge shots, but we got a couple of breaks too. That missed blank by Joel, we got that point to tie it up and then some big back-end shots in the sixth, and that was really the turning point.”

The Canadian men close round-robin play Thursday against Norway’s Team Magnus Ramsfjell (4-4) at 3:05 a.m., before their semifinal game at 1:05 p.m.

For live scoring, team lineups, and standings for the Olympic curling competitions, click here.

All of Canada’s Games will be broadcast on a variety of platforms by CBC, the official Olympic rights-holder in Canada. Click here for the CBC broadcast schedule.