Fleury’s world championship brings joy to former teammates

Tracy Fleury’s former teammates in Manitoba couldn’t be happier to see her now reach the top of the curling mountain.

It was fewer than three years ago when the import skip from Sudbury, Ont., led Winnipeggers Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe, and Kristin MacCuish to the final of the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials where they ultimately experienced the biggest heartbreak of their careers.

They were one shot away from earning the right to represent the country at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but Fleury’s hammer crashed on a guard on a tough come-around tapback in the extra end. They were undefeated all week, but the misfire gave the maple leaf jackets to Team Jennifer Jones.

That loss is well behind Fleury now as she captured the world women’s curling championship on Sunday in Sydney, N.S., playing third for Rachel Homan’s Ottawa-based team. They knocked off four-time defending champ Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 7-5 to become the first men’s or women’s Canadian side to win a world title since 2018.

“I think she felt a lot of responsibility for it after that loss because we did have a chance to win that game and she felt it was kind of her fault that she missed that last shot,” Fyfe told the Free Press on Monday.

“She felt really, really bad about that for a long time. I know she struggled with that. So, it’s really nice to see her move forward from that and be able to have success with her new team.”

“I’m super happy for her. She’s one of the best people that you’ll ever meet, and she was the best teammate. I enjoyed playing with her so much.”

Fleury had a four-year run playing out of Manitoba (2018-22) as she got the call to join the group after Kerri Einarson left to form a super team with three former skips: Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris.

One of Fleury’s biggest highlights in the Keystone Province was beating Einarson 13-7 to win the 2019 Manitoba Scotties in Gimli.

“She brings out the best in her teammates… and honestly you will never meet a nicer person than Tracy Fleury.” said Njegovan. “She is one of the best people in the world and she deserves great things to happen to her. She is a phenomenal player, as you could see from the Scotties and the worlds, and I just couldn’t be happier for her. She totally deserves it.”

Fleury returned to Ontario last season to play a new position with Homan. After having mild success in Year 1, Homan, Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes took the curling world by storm this year with a sensational 62-6 record to cement themselves as one of the most dominant teams in Canadian history. They beat Jones 5-4 in last month’s Canadian championship in Calgary which was Fleury’s first national title. She was also named a first team all-star at the event.

“I’m just super impressed with how she’s adapted to playing third because she’s never done it before and sweeping was something she was never interested in doing, or I think she was a bit intimidated by it,” said Fyfe.

“But she’s just really embraced it and she’s obviously doing super well.”

Njegovan and MacCuish now play with Kaitlyn Lawes, while Fyfe was an alternate for Jolene Campbell this season.

Fyfe and Njegovan both reached out to Fleury to congratulate her on the monumental achievement.

“They have been phenomenal, it’s actually so fun to watch. They’re making everything and they’ve kind of put up a new standard for us as women’s curlers,” said Njegovan.

“We’re really gonna have to work hard and find a new level to beat them because they are playing amazing right now.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31