Canada’s Team Rachel Homan books gold-medal rematch after semifinal win at 2025 LGT World Women’s Championship

UIJEONGBU, SOUTH KOREA — Canada’s Team Rachel Homan battled through 11 ends, and a wave of momentum shifts to defeat South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim in a nail-biting semifinal at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship.

The Canadian team needed all 10 ends — and then some — to defeat South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim. After a back-and-forth battle, skip Rachel Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and national coaches Viktor Kjell and Renée Sonnenberg gutted out a steely 6-5 triumph in an extra end at Uijeongbu Arena on Saturday.

With hammer in the extra frame, Canada did not need to throw its final stone. South Korea skip Gim attempted a double takeout but overcurled and left the winning point in play, sealing the victory for Canada. 

Team Homan advances to face Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni in a rematch of last year’s world championship final. 

The team from Ottawa aims to become Canada’s first team to repeat as world champions since Sandra Schmirler’s team did it in 1993 and 1994.

The gold-medal game is scheduled for Sunday at 3 a.m. (all times ET).

Many Canadians, including Homan’s family, will wake up to the news of Team Homan earning its spot in the gold medal game.

“Win or lose, we fought out there. We left it all out there and I’m just so proud of the girls. So excited for us to be in another final. It’s great for Canada,” Homan said. “We can’t wait to stress out family members out as I’m sure they’re going to watch it from end one, so it’s not going to be fun watching. But I think they’re going to be super pumped when they wake up.”

Victory was far from certain, with momentum swinging between the two sides. Canada’s final push came in the ninth end, turning the tide against the same South Korean team it defeated in last year’s semifinal.

Trailing by one, Canada couldn’t afford to be forced in the ninth and instead set up for two after a South Korean hit overcurled and missed its target.

In the 10th, Canada made a nervy double takeout — a centre-line stone redirected into another in the side 12-foot — to force South Korea to a single and send the game to an extra end. A miss would have handed Team Gim the win.

“I was pretty emotional after that. It was huge for us and huge for Canada. We wanted to make that, and I didn’t know if it was going to stop falling. Thankfully, it did, and it was just a huge moment to keep our chances alive,” Homan said.

South Korea opened with hammer and blanked the first end, but Canada turned up the pressure in the second. Team Homan clustered stones in the four-foot, and Team Gim’s runback attempts either missed entirely or jammed. That allowed Homan to use her final two shots to guard for a steal. South Korea was left with a tough in-off double to score or limit the damage — and executed just enough to cut Canada’s potential steal of three down to one.

Everything went Canada’s way in the third end — until the final shot. Attempting a soft-weight hit to sit as many as four, Canada clipped the centre guard, leaving South Korea with a draw for two. It was one of the only major Canadian misses all game, with the team shooting 91 per cent.

Canada missed a chance for more in the fourth end, choosing a draw along a fresh, wide path that came up light and resulted in a single. The team bounced back in the fifth, forcing South Korea to a single.

South Korea returned the favour in the sixth, holding Canada to one before blanking the seventh and scoring a single in the eighth for a one-point lead into the final two ends of regulation.

“It didn’t look great the whole time. We knew we had to battle. I had a tough pick early that cost us and gave them two, but we stuck with it. We had a phenomenal game, and we had to grind that one out right into the extra. I’m just really proud of my team for sticking with it and keep trying to make the next one,” Homan said.

Switzerland’s Team Tirinzoni edged China’s Team Rui Wang 4-2 in a tense, low-scoring semifinal. The Swiss struck early with two in the first end, while China blanked the next six to keep it tight. Team Wang pulled even with a deuce and forced Switzerland to a single in the ninth, appearing poised for the win — until Switzerland executed a double and roll to freeze, setting up a game-winning steal.

South Korea and China will play for the bronze medal on Saturday at 9 p.m.

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Non-Canadian round-robin games are available through World Curling’s streaming platform, The Curling Channel.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible here.