26 January 2026

Milano Cortina 2026: Team Canada

With just a week until the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games begin, we take a look at all the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) set to compete. Next is Team Canada.

Team Canada will be represented by three curling teams: Team Homan (women’s), Team Jacobs (men’s) and Team Gallant/Peterman (mixed doubles).

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In a nation of world beaters, Rachel Homan has emerged once again as Canada’s number one skip over this Olympic cycle.

Nine years ago, Team Homan claimed victory at the trials for the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, holding off elite contenders including Jennifer Jones and Chelsea Carey.

Team’s toughest assignment

But staying on top in Canada is never guaranteed. At the trials for Beijing 2022, they finished bottom of the table with just two wins, while Team Jones flew the flag in the women’s tournament. Homan still travelled to China, competing in the mixed doubles event with John Morris, where the pair missed out on the play-offs with a fifth placed finish.

A sixth-place finish at Pyeongchang 2018 and the near-miss in the mixed doubles four years later means that one of the most successful female skips in the modern game is still missing an Olympic medal from her bursting-at-the-seams trophy cabinet. Yet, if that absence weighs on her, she does not show it.

“We feel ready,” said Homan.

“We feel excited to put the Maple Leaf on our back and excited to start training now.

“That was our last event last weekend and now all the focus is going to be on the Olympics coming up.”

Proof on the ice

Her most recent outing — a semi-final appearance at the Crown Royal Players’ Championship — ended with a narrow 7-6 loss to compatriot Kerri Einarson. However, this season has been a huge success so far for the world number one.

Across three consecutive tournaments Team Homan won 18 of their 19 games, winning all three and defeating Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni twice, the other major contender on paper for the Olympic crown. A third victory over Team Tirinzoni came in November at Lake Tahoe — an impressive feat in any season.

Determination radiates from the Canadian, without having to create any hype or make any audacious statements ahead of time. Statements have always been made on the ice.

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Meet the teams

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Built for the Olympic environment

In all five of her World Women’s Curling Championship appearances, she has stood on the podium — including a gold medal in 2017 and back-to-back world titles in 2024 and 2025. While she is hesitant to say they are the team to beat, Homan has been satisfied with how preparations are shaping up ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

For her teammates Tracy Fleury, Sarah Wilkes and Rachelle Brown, it will be an Olympic debut.

“We’ve kind of hit all our goals and just working towards the Olympics now,” she said, having recently celebrated a record-breaking 20th Grand Slam of Curling title in Nevada.

“It’s nice to have been there before and know what you’re going to come into.

“And then for them, just new experiences, but they have so much experience on every level, so we feel ready.

“I think we’re all really excited and I’m just grateful that I’ve been there before and kind of feel comfortable in that environment now.

“All year we’ve had a lot of success and we tried to bring complete focus to the trials and the fact that we’re able to succeed the way we did under tough conditions, I think it just helps prepare us for the Olympics.

“We feel really ready to win.”

“I think we’re all really excited and I’m just grateful that I’ve been there before and kind of feel comfortable in that environment now.”

Rachel Homan, Team Canada

Much like eight years prior, they had headed into the Olympic Trials as reigning world champions — and lived up to expectations. A 6-1 record saw them finish top of the round-robin table and automatically advance to the final, where they faced the home favourites from Nova Scotia, skipped by Christina Black.

Just one point separated the teams in the first game of the best-of-three series, with Team Homan edging out a 5-4 victory. The low-scoring affair became a rout in the second game, which saw them secure the Olympic spot after a 12-3 victory.

Four years after the disappointment of missing out on Beijing 2022, they had successfully navigated the world’s toughest Olympic curling trials.

“Canada is a hard country to get out of,” she added.

“Your chances are a lot less likely going to the Olympics for Canada than it is for other countries.

“They kind of have their main team for four years that they fund and that is their top Olympic prospect, but for Canada, there’s just so many. So, we’re really proud to be able to go back.”

Back where they belong

Recently, Homan celebrated 30 years since passing her beginners’ curling programme as a child and is now on the cusp of competing for that elusive Olympic title. For over 25 years, she and teammate Emma Miskew have seemed joint at the hip, side-by-side through the highs and the lows, with the skip adding that “it’s really cool to be on this journey with her”.

Now set for her third Olympic Winter Games, she said she is “really proud” and “grateful for the opportunity”, and will look to take Canada back to the top after two consecutive Games without a women’s medal.

By 2014, Canada had made it onto the women’s podium in all five Games, capped by gold under Jones in Sochi. As Milano Cortina 2026 approaches, few look more capable of bringing the nation back to their glory days and a third Olympic gold medal than Team Homan.

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Team Canada stats

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