Champion curler with back-to-back world titles says they\u2019ll be taking on some tough competition, but Team Homan is up to the task<\/p>\n
Sudbury\u2019s Tracy Fleury will be making her Olympic debut at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics in Italy in February as vice-skip on Team Homan, but the veteran curler said she has no nerves just yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe as we get a little bit closer,\u201d she said, adding that she feels more excitement than pressure at this point.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a huge surprise she\u2019s maintaining a cool head as she heads to the pinnacle of winter athletic competition.<\/p>\n
Fleury has, after all, won back-to-back titles<\/a> at the 2024 and 2025 Women\u2019s World Curling Championships as part of Team Homan<\/a>, an Ottawa-based women\u2019s curling team.<\/p>\n Along with skip Rachel Homan, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and coach Heather Nedohin, the team recently claimed victory at the Canadian Curling Trials, winning their Olympic berth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve all competed in this sport for so long, and so we’re kind of used to the pressure of competition, used to international competition, so I don’t think there will be too many nerves,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully, I think we’ll be able to manage that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Olympic competition is going to be tough, Fleury said, and however \u201cskilled and talented,\u201d they\u2019re all teams they\u2019ve been competing against on a regular basis. She said they\u2019ll have their eye on teams including Switzerland, Sweden and Korea.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, all the teams are going to give us good games, we expect,\u201d Fleury said.<\/p>\n Fleury has a long history in the sport, having started curling in 1991 at the age of five in Little Rocks, with all three of her siblings also competing in curling.<\/p>\n She competed at her first Tournament of Hearts in 2012 after upsetting an undefeated Homan in the Ontario provincial final.<\/p>\n \u201cIn any sport, there’s always a lot of ups and downs along the journey, and that’s been the case for me as well,\u201d said Fleury.<\/p>\n Heading into the Olympics, Team Homan will compete in two grand slam tournaments, one in Saskatoon and another in Winnipeg, followed by a training camp at the end of January and then \u2026 Italy.<\/p>\n She said her husband, young daughter, mom and some of her teammates\u2019 family members will accompany them.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve never been, but I’ve only heard good things,\u201d Fleury said. \u201cIt should be a good trip. It looks beautiful there where we’ll be competing. We’re very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n As she prepares herself for Olympic competition, the curler said she appreciates the support of the Sudbury community.<\/p>\n That includes her employer, Laurentian University, where she works as a manager in the finance department, which has granted her a six-month-long leave of absence to prepare for the Olympics.<\/p>\n