By Jonathan Brazeau
NISKU, Alta. — Canada's Rachel Homan stands alone at the top of the Grand Slam of Curling record books.
Homan captured a historic 19th Grand Slam title, surpassing Kevin Martin for the most among all skips across both divisions, after defeating Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni 8-2 in Sunday's women's final at the CO-OP Tour Challenge.
The milestone couldn't have happened at a better place. Homan lives just a stone's throw away in nearby Beaumont, and had family, friends and a full house of fans on hand.
“You couldn't ask for anything more than that to have your home Slam be the one that you break records,” Homan said. “It's just really surreal right now to be able to do it in front of friends and family.”
Second Emma Miskew also earned her 19th Grand Slam, having played alongside Homan since they were kids.
The team of Homan, Miskew, third Tracy Fleury and lead Sarah Wilkes earned $34,500 with the victory.
Homan and Tirinzoni are the top two teams in the world and met again for the third consecutive Grand Slam women's final. Tirinzoni came out on top to capture the Players' Championship in April at the end of last season, and Homan emerged victorious when they met at last month's AMJ Masters. It was also their ninth total, with Homan now holding a 7-2 advantage.
The loss was the lone blemish on the week for Tirinzoni, who throws third stones on her team. Tirinzoni, fourth Alina Pätz, second Carole Howald and lead Selina Witschonke collected $29,000 from the prize purse.
Tirinzoni started with the hammer, but disaster struck in the opening end with a huge points swing. It was looking like Team Tirinzoni would have an opportunity to score two, but Homan's shooter squeaked past the guard to hit and sit four counters. Pätz needed to hit and stick for one, but her shooter rolled all the way out of the house to give up a huge steal.
With Homan sitting two in the second, Pätz was forced to draw into the eight-foot circle for a single.
Homan hit and rolled too far in the third to give up one, and she opted to draw into an empty house in the fourth, saving her one blank for a rainy day, to grab a 5-2 lead heading into the break.
When it rains, it pours. Pätz’s struggles continued as she hit and rolled out again in five to concede another point, and her runback attempt in six went sideways, adding two more to Homan's tally that brought out the handshakes.
“We got a lead early, but that's not a team that you can ever let off," Homan said. "They got a steal in the middle there, and there's lots of rocks in play, anything can happen. It's just one or two rocks here or there.
"They're such a great team and we just kept on them, kept making our shots and putting pressure on them.”
Edmonton's Team Serena Gray-Withers claimed the inaugural CO-OP Tour Challenge U25 women's title with an 8-4 victory over Japan's Team Yuina Miura.
