Curling connection runs deep for Canadian mixed doubles duo of Morris and Homan

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This article was published 02/02/2022 (1683 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BEIJING – As a youngster, Rachel Homan would often hang around the curling rink with her parents to watch her older brother play on a junior team skipped by John Morris.

Not old enough to start the ‘little rocks’ junior program, she would sometimes take to the ice on her own when the games were complete.

Earle Morris, John’s father, remembers looking out from behind the glass and being wowed by Homan’s natural ability.

“She’d be throwing rocks at five years old by herself with a perfect delivery,” he said. “So that got my attention.”

The Morris-Homan curling connection runs deep.

John and Mark Homan, who later shifted his sporting focus to hockey, won silver together at the 1997 Canadian junior men’s championship. Earle, a former player himself, used to coach Rachel’s four-player team.

John and Rachel have both enjoyed stellar curling careers. They have represented Canada at the Olympics, won world titles and are three-time national champions.

Now they’re set to wear the Maple Leaf as mixed doubles partners at the Beijing Games.

“They both respond to the spotlight in a very good manner,” Earle said in a recent interview. “They stay calm, they’re focused and they believe.”

Morris and Homan trained at the Ice Cube on Wednesday ahead of their round-robin opener against Great Britain on Thursday morning.

It was their first opportunity to practise at the four-sheet venue, which was used for swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Games.

“We’ve been off the ice for five days just in travel and transit,” Morris said. “So it just feels nice to get back out there and shake the legs out.”

Morris, 43, returns to the Games as the defending champion in mixed doubles, a discipline that made its Olympic debut at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018. He teamed with Kaitlyn Lawes that year after Homan qualified in the women’s team event.

Homan and Morris have won four of their last six mixed doubles competitions together and 45 of their last 49 games as a duo overall.

They’re joined by national coach Scott Pfeifer, who was on the team that beat Morris in that national junior final a quarter-century ago.

“They’re extremely motivated and doing everything they can to get prepared for this event,” Pfeifer said. “Honestly, off the ice, I think they probably even have a better bond. It’s almost like brother-sister because they’ve known each other for so long.

“I think that goes a long way toward the chemistry they’ll need to compete at a high level.”

The Morris and Homan families would often get together for fun curling games at holiday time. Earle first started coaching Rachel when she was 13.

“From the get-go, she had this focus and this confidence and fearlessness when she played,” he said from Ottawa. “And she could back it up by making great shots.”

Homan won her first national women’s title in 2013, three years after Morris won Olympic gold with Kevin Martin. Homan and Morris first teamed up for mixed doubles in 2015.

“I’ve known him for so long, it just feels easy,” Homan said.

They held an isolated two-week training camp with Pfeifer in Canmore, Alta., before making the trip to China. They worked in some snowshoeing and ice fishing during their downtime from curling training.

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Canada is among the favourites in the 10-team field along with Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway.

Round-robin play begins Wednesday night and continues through Monday. The top four teams will advance to the semifinals and medal games are set for Tuesday.

“There’s no two better competitors in all of Canadian curling,” said men’s team alternate Marc Kennedy, who joined the duo for training. “So I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2022.

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.