When Team Canada arrives in Milan this month, there’s one sport everyone is going to be watching: curling. Ranked number one in the world, the Canadian women’s team is also the first to win consecutive world championship gold medals in over 30 years. All eyes will be on Toronto’s own Sarah Wilkes: playing lead on Team Homan, she’ll be throwing the first stones in her first ever Olympic Games. We caught up with the two-time world champion ahead of Milan.
You’re top-ranked heading into the Games. What is it about this team that’s so special?
We all have our own roles and are fully committed to those. We all bring such different things to our team, and I think that we all complement each other really well in that sense. And no one’s trying to do someone else’s job. We know what we have to do for us to perform at our best, and we all are fully committed to that.
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Curling is obviously an iconic Canadian sport. How does it feel representing the country on the biggest stage?
I think it’s an incredible privilege. I just think back to myself as a little kid watching curling and saying, “I want to be able to do that someday.” So I hope to be able to bring that joy and inspiration, especially to young girls watching. It’s really cool that there are going to be so many eyes on it.
Name: Sarah Wilkes
Hometown: Toronto
Sport: Curling
Olympic event date: Feb. 12, first game vs. Denmark
Social feed: Instagram
Favourite Toronto memories: Walking the Beaches and the Bluffs; meeting friends at Enrico’s Pizza
Second sport: Almost gave up on curling to pursue fastball in the U.S.
Curling lore: Has experience playing all four positions on the ice
Fan club: Will be joined by her husband, daughter and parents in Milan to cheer her on from the stands
Thinking back to little kid you, when did this all start?
I’ve been curling since I was six, and I remember when I was around 12, a team at the club I was curling at, Tam Heather, actually went to the Olympics, so that was inspiring. And I played on the curling team at Wilfred Laurier University, and we ended up going to the World University Games, which was kind of like the closest thing to an Olympic games you could get without being at the Olympics.
Was there a moment when it kind of clicked for you that this is something you could really do professionally?
Leading into the last Olympic trials, I decided to take a leap from my day job and just try and put as much attention as I could on curling. That was six years ago now, and it was definitely a turning point. I still work as a psychotherapist, just not full-time, and it has helped me be able to be as prepared as I can.
Has your psychotherapy background influenced you as an athlete?
There’s a ton of self reflection that happened throughout my education to become a psychotherapist, and that’s on top of all the work I’ve done in the past with mental performance consultant and all of that. It’s definitely helped me look inwards, be a little more reflective and identify strategies that work for me in really stressful situations. I’m always checking in with myself before every game to see where I’m at emotionally and remind myself of my values. What am I doing this for? What’s the bigger picture?
Which other sport are you most excited to watch in Milan?
Figure skating.
If you had to swap sports for one Olympics, what would you pick?
I’m actually not very naturally athletic! But maybe hockey.
We’ll be profiling more athletes during the 2026 Winter Olympics; refer here for future coverage.
