Canada's Rachel Homan beat Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni 7-5 on Sunday to win gold at the world women's curling championship.

Homan split to score three points in the bottom of the ninth. The Swiss had no chance to get the game-tying deuce in the 10th minute and conceded before throwing their final stone.

The win ended Canada's six-year title drought at this event. It was Homan's first world crown since winning gold at the 2017 playdowns in Beijing.

Jennifer Jones was the last Canadian to win world gold, finishing first in 2018 in North Bay, Ontario.

Homan and her team of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and leader Sarah Wilkes picked up where they left off after leading the standings at last month's national championships.

Canada went 11-1 in round-robin play at the Center 200 and defeated Eunji Gim of South Korea in the semifinals.

That puts the top-ranked Ottawa-based rink up against second-ranked Tirinzoni, who has won four straight world titles.

Homan's men enter with confidence having won all four head-to-head meetings against Tirinzoni this season. The Canadian also ended Tirinzoni's 42-match winning streak in the competition earlier this week.

As the No. 1 seed, Canada started with a hammer but Switzerland forced Homan into a late opening draw.

The home team made several small mistakes early in the match.

Miskew hit and slid in the second end and Homan's freezing attempt was slightly off. That allowed Switzerland's fourth player, Alina Paetz, to hit a soft shot for two.

Canada was forced again in the third end and Homan's final stone curled in the fourth end to make it two for Switzerland.

Paetz hit multiple throws in a row in the fifth end to allow Canada to answer with a pair of its own.

Two blanks precede the end of the eighth with rock play. Fleury made a freezing shot on the button and Tirinzoni couldn't blow up the Canadian's rocks.

Homan struck out to sit fourth and Paetz was forced to draw for one.

In the critical ninth end, Homan hit two great shots that turned the game around.

His rocket double take left Canada sitting in third place. Paetz hit a double-takeout that left Canada as a shot stone with two Swiss stones behind the 12-foot ring.

Canada's Rachel Homan, left, celebrates with her teammates after winning the 2024 World Women's Curling Championship. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Homan tapped his own rock near the top of the house and both rocks rolled for three goals, electrifying the nearly sellout crowd of 4,373.

The win improved Homan's season record to 62-6. He improved to 24-8 in career head-to-head matchups against Tirinzoni.

Earlier, Gim defeated Stefania Constantini of Italy 6-3 to win the bronze medal.

Homan and Miskew were named competition all-stars at their respective positions. Sweden's Sara McManus finished third and Swiss leader Carole Howard was named top leader.

Overall attendance at the nine-day event was 45,602. Uijeongbu, South Korea will host the women's world championships next year.

The world men's curling championship begins Saturday in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Brad Gushue of St. Louis St. John's, NL, will miss the Canadian team.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2024