Jamie Ann Sinclair (born February 21, 1992) is an American-Canadian curler from

Osgoode, Ontario Osgoode (also known as Osgoode Village) is a population centre in Osgoode Ward in the rural south end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just 2 km east of the Rideau River. Until amalgamation in 2001, it was located in Osgoode Townsh ...

and is a three-time U.S. National Champion. Her

United States Curling Association The United States Curling Association (USCA or USA Curling) is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions both ...

membership is through the Charlotte Curling Association in

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

where she has a number of personal connections. She grew up in

Manotick, Ontario Manotick ( ) is a community in Rideau-Jock Ward in the rural south part of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a suburb of the city, located on the Rideau River, immediately south of the suburbs Barrhaven and Riverside South, about from ...

, a suburb of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Curling career

2007–2013: Juniors

Sinclair won a gold medal at the 2007 Canada Winter Games, playing lead for the

Rachel Homan Rachel Catherine Homan (born April 5, 1989) is a Canadian international curler. Homan is a former Canadian junior champion, a three-time Canadian national champion, and the 2017 world champion, all as a skip. She was also the skip of the Cana ...

rink. She was a member of the Homan rink that won the 2006 Bantam provincial championship. She won the Bantam provincial championship again in 2009 as a skip. Sinclair played in her first

World Curling Tour The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and mixed doubles curlers in the world. History The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later assistance from Jo ...

(WCT) event, at the 2011 Challenge Casino Lac Leamy. Her rink finished with a 1–2 record in her pool, and did not make the playoffs. Sinclair and her rink of

Holly Donaldson ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, Chantal Allan and Casandra Raganold won the provincial women's junior championship in 2012, defeating

Lauren Horton Lauren Horton (born July 21, 1995) is a Canadian curling, curler from Pakenham, Ontario. Youth career Horton's Huntley Curling Club rink won the 2011 U18 Ontario Curling Championships, provincial bantam championship. This qualified her team to r ...

9–3. This earned her rink the right to represent

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

at the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships where they finished with a 7–5 record, just missing the playoffs in 4th place. Sinclair won her second straight provincial junior title in 2013, with a new front end of

Katelyn Wasylkiw Katelyn Wasylkiw (; born 1993) is a Canadian curler from Kleinburg, Ontario. Career In 2010, she was third on Chantal Duhaime's team, before becoming lead on Caitlin Romain's team in 2011 and then lead on Jamie Sinclair's team in 2012. Then t ...

and Erin Jenkins with Donaldson still at third. At the

2013 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 2013 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships were held from January 31 to February 10 at the Suncor Community Leisure Centre at MacDonald Island Park and at the Oilsands Curling Club in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Alberta last hosted t ...

, her team did make the playoffs, but lost in the semi-final to

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Shannon Birchard Shannon Birchard (born May 11, 1994) is a Canadian curling, curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She currently plays Second (curling), second on Team Kerri Einarson from Gimli, Manitoba. Currently, the Einarson team are the four-time reigning Scotties ...

, settling for third place.

2013–2016: Moving to the United States

For the 2013–14 season, Sinclair played on WCT teams on both sides of the border, playing third for the

-based Brit O'Neill rink, and third for the St. Paul, Minnesota-based Alexandra Carlson rink. With the Carlson rink, Sinclair played in the 2014 United States Women's Curling Championship, finishing with a 6–3 round robin record, but losing in a tie-breaker match. At the end of the season, Sinclair won the 2014 CIS/CCA Curling Championships, Canada's national university championship for

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

. In 2014, Sinclair fully committed to playing out of the United States, and moved to Minnesota. For the 2014–15 season, she played third for the

Nina Roth Nina Marie Roth ( Spatola; born July 21, 1988) is a retired American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. She was the skip of the American women's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the third at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Career Roth began curlin ...

rink, which also consisted of

Becca Hamilton Rebecca Lynn Hamilton (born July 12, 1990) is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. She is a two-time national women's champion, a two-time national junior champion, and a two-time Olympian. At the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, she compet ...

and

Tabitha Peterson Tabitha Skelly Peterson (born March 6, 1989) is an American curler from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a bronze medalist at the 2010 World Junior Championships and is a two-time women's national champion. She currently is skip of her own team ...

. The team missed the playoffs at the 2015 United States Women's Curling Championship. The team played in two

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

events, missing the playoffs at both the

2014 Colonial Square Ladies Classic The 2014 Colonial Square Ladies Classic was held from November 7 to 10 at the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as part of the 2014–15 World Curling Tour. This was the third Grand Slam event on the women's World Curling Tour. The ...

and the

2014 Canadian Open of Curling The 2014 Canadian Open of Curling was held from December 9 to 14 at the Gallagher Centre in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Yorkton, Saskatchewan. The Canadian Open was the third men's Grand Slam (curling), Grand Slam and the fourth women's Grand Slam of ...

. In 2015, Roth left the team, with Sinclair assuming skipping duties, Hamilton throwing third rocks, Tabitha Peterson staying at lead and Tara Peterson joining the team at second. In their first season together, the team finished 4th at the 2016 United States Women's Curling Championship. The team played in one Slam, the 2015 National, going winless.

2016–2020: Success at Nationals

In 2016, Sinclair formed a new team with Alexandra Carlson,

Vicky Persinger Victoria "Vicky" Persinger (born June 1, 1992) is an American curler from Fairbanks, Alaska. She is a three-time United States Women's National Champion. Career Persinger competed in eight United States Junior Championships, winning gold at h ...

and

Monica Walker Monica Walker (born February 20, 1987) is an American curler originally from Brighton, Massachusetts. She is a three-time national champion. Curling career Walker began curling in 1997. In adult competitions, she placed 4th at the U.S. Natio ...

. Sinclair found much more success with her new team, winning the 2017 U.S. Championships, but missed out on going to the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

due to Nina Roth earning more points throughout the season. They also played for the winning North American Team at the 2017 Continental Cup of Curling and made it to the quarterfinals of the last

of the season, the 2017 Humpty's Champions Cup. The team started the 2017–18 season by winning the

AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic The AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic (formerly known as the M&M Meat Shops Shorty Jenkins Classic, CIBC Trust Shorty Jenkins Classic and just the Shorty Jenkins Classic) is an annual curling tournament, held in September at the Cornwall Curli ...

. At the

2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials The 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials were held from November 11–18, 2017 at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. Five teams qualified for the men's tournament and three teams qualified for the women's tournament. The winner of each tourname ...

, they missed their chance to play in the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

when they lost a close three game final series to Nina Roth's team. Later that season they defended their national title, winning the 2018 United States Women's Curling Championship. Representing the United States at the 2018 World Women's Championship, they finished fourth, losing the bronze medal game to Russia's

Victoria Moiseeva Victoria Alexandrovna Moiseeva (russian: Викто́рия Алекса́ндровна Моисе́ева; born January 10, 1991) is a Russian curler. She won gold as an alternate of the Russian national women's team at the 2013 Winter Univer ...

. Team Sinclair made history at the

2018 Players' Championship The 2018 Players' Championship was held from April 10 to 15, 2018 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It was the seventh men's and sixth women's Grand Slam event of the 2017–18 World Curling Tour. On the men's side, Calgary's ...

when they became the first American team to win a Grand Slam event. They finished the season with another quarterfinal finish at the

2018 Humpty's Champions Cup The 2018 Humpty's Champions Cup is the final Grand Slam of curling event of the 2017–18 curling season. It was held April 24–29, 2018 at the WinSport Arena, Canada Olympic Park, in Calgary, Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen ...

. The

would change the high performance teams the following season for the next Olympic quadrennial. Sinclair would continue skipping with twin sisters

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

and

Taylor Anderson Taylor Anderson is an author, historical artillery and firearm expert, re-enactor, and former history professor. He is the author of the ''Destroyermen'' series, about , , and , and their fight against the Grik. Anderson has also written several ...

playing third and second respectively and Monica Walker would continue to play lead. The team did not have a very successful season up until the 2019 United States Women's Curling Championship where they defeated the Roth rink in final. At the

2019 World Women's Curling Championship The 2019 World Women's Curling Championship (branded as the 2019 LGT World Women's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from 16 to 24 March at the Silkeborg Sportscenter in Silkeborg, Denmark. Qualification The following nat ...

, the team went 6–6 finishing in seventh place, just missing the playoffs. The following season, Walker announced she would be retiring from competitive curling. The team brought on

Cory Christensen Cory Thiesse ( Christensen; born December 1, 1994) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. She is currently the defending U.S. champion skip, and represented her country at the 2022 World Women's Curling Championship. Christensen was one ...

to play third with Sinclair's former teammate Vicky Persinger coming on to play second. The Anderson twins would play lead and alternate. Retired Canadian curler

Cathy Overton-Clapham Cathy Overton-Clapham (born Cathy Overton, July 19, 1969) nicknamed "Cathy O" is a Canadian curler. Overton-Clapham is one of Manitoba's most decorated female curlers, with one world championship, five national championships, and thirteen Scot ...

joined the High Performance Program as Team Sinclair's coach for the 2019–20 season. They would win the

Red Deer Curling Classic The Prism Flow Red Deer Curling Classic is an annual bonspiel, or curling tournament, that takes place at the Red Deer Curling Club in Red Deer, Alberta. The tournament is held in a triple-knockout format. The men's tournament started in 1992 a ...

event. At the 2020 United States Women's Championship Team Sinclair only lost one game in the round robin, earning the number one seed in the playoffs. In the 1 vs. 2 page playoff Sinclair lost to

's team, who they faced again in the final after defeating Ariel Traxler's junior team in the semifinals. Peterson defeated Team Sinclair a second time in the final, with a final score of 7–5, stopping Sinclair from tying Debbie McCormick's record of four National Titles in a row.

2020–2022: New lineup and doubles success

In March 2020, after an early end to the curling season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Sinclair announced via

twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that her teammates had decided to part ways with her. Later in the off-season it was announced that Sinclair had formed a new team, bringing Walker out of her short retirement to play at third, and adding two younger curlers for the front end,

Cora Farrell Cora Farrell (born May 23, 1999) is an American curler from Fairbanks, Alaska. She was a silver medalist at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Career Farrell has competed in eight consecutive Junior National Championships. ...

and Elizabeth Cousins. The team was not able to compete in any tour events due to the pandemic, but they were able to play in the 2021 United States Women's Curling Championship, held May 26–30 in

Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west. The city's suburbs include Schofield, Weston, Mosinee, Maine, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, and ...

. There, they topped the round robin with an undefeated 6–0 record, which qualified them directly to the championship final where they faced Team

, Sinclair's former teammates. After trailing early, Team Sinclair tied the game in the eighth end, but couldn't hold on for the win as Christensen scored two points in the extra end to win 8–6. The following season, Team Sinclair began by winning the 2021 Oakville Fall Classic, defeating

Suzanne Birt Suzanne Birt (born Suzanne Gaudet on October 2, 1981 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island) is a Canadian curling, curler from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She currently Skip (curling), skips her own team on the World Curling Tour. Career ...

8–6 in the final game. Later in the season, they won another tour event at the

Atkins Curling Supplies Classic The Atkins Curling Supplies Classic (formerly the Atkins Curling Supplies Women's Classic and the Atkins Curling Supplies Charity Classic) is an annual bonspiel, or curling tournament, that takes place at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club i ...

with a 10–4 win over Kristy Watling in the championship final. They reached the final of the

US Open of Curling The Curve US Open of Curling is an annual bonspiel, or curling tournament, held at the Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, Minnesota. It was held as part of the men's World Curling Tour from 2014 to 2019 and as part of the women's WCT from 201 ...

, losing to the

rink 8–5 in the final. They also had a semifinal finish at the

2021 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic The 2021 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic was held from October 8 to 11 at the Calgary Curling Club in Calgary, Alberta. The event was held in a triple-knockout format with a purse of $44,000. After dropping into the C Event, the Unit ...

and a quarterfinal finish at the 2021 Oakville Labour Day Classic. Team Sinclair then played in the

2021 United States Olympic Curling Trials The 2021 United States Olympic Curling Trials was held from November 12 to 21, 2021 at the Baxter Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. The trials featured six men's teams and six women's teams who played in a double round robin tournament. After the round r ...

, held November 12 to 21 at the

Baxter Arena Baxter Arena (previously known under the working name UNO Community Arena) is the sports arena owned and operated by the University of Nebraska Omaha located in Omaha, Nebraska. Completed in 2015, Baxter Arena serves as the home of several of the ...

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. Despite entering the Trials as the second ranked team, the team did not have a good performance, failing to reach the playoff round with a 4–6 record, finishing third. Team Sinclair ended the 2021–22 season with a semifinal loss at the

Curl Mesabi Classic The Curl Mesabi Classic (previously known as the Curl Mesabi Cash Spiel (2007, 2010-2011), Iron Trail Motors Shoot-Out @ Curl Mesabi (2012) and the Super One Shoot-out @ Curl Mesabi (2008)) is an annual bonspiel, or curling tournament, that takes p ...

. They disbanded following the season. Aside from her women's team, Sinclair had a successful

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

2021–22 season with partner

Rich Ruohonen Richard Ruohonen (born March 31, 1971) is an American curler from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He is a two-time national champion and as such represented the United States at the 2008 and 2018 World Men's Curling Championships. Career Ruohonen ...

. The pair qualified for the 2021 United States mixed doubles curling Olympic trials and finished the round robin with a 5–4 record. They then beat

John Shuster John Shuster ( ; born November 3, 1982) is an American curler who lives in Superior, Wisconsin. He led Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first American team to ever win gold in curling. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Winte ...

and

in a tiebreaker before winning both the 3 vs. 4 and semifinal games to qualify for the final. There, they played Sinclair's former teammate

and

Chris Plys Christopher Plys (; born August 13, 1987) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He is a Junior World Champion and two-time National Men's Champion. He was the alternate for the United States men's team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a ...

. Tied in the eighth end, Persinger scored one for her team to end Sinclair's chances of reaching the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

. The team also played in the

2022 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship The 2022 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship was held from March 8 to 13, 2022 at Bob Suter's Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton, Wisconsin. The championship featured twenty-five teams that played in a triple knockout format, which qual ...

later in the season where they lost in the semifinal to Sinclair's teammate

and

Andrew Stopera Andrew Stopera (born September 30, 1997) is an American curler from Briarcliff Manor, New York. He currently throws third rocks and skips Team Korey Dropkin. He is a three-time United States Junior Champion and won the silver medal at the 201 ...

, earning the bronze medal.

2022–present: Return to Canada

Sinclair moved back to

in 2022. On August 12, 2022, the new Manitoba based

Chelsea Carey Chelsea Danielle Carey (born September 12, 1984 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian curler from Calgary, Alberta. She is the 2016 and 2019 Canadian and Alberta women's champion skip and 2014 Manitoba provincial women's champion skip. Career ...

team announced that Sinclair would be joining them as their alternate for the 2022–23 season. The team also included

Jolene Campbell Jolene Campbell (born Jolene McIvor on August 12, 1981) is a Canadian curler from Regina, Saskatchewan. She currently skips her own team out of Winnipeg. Curling career Junior career Born in Saskatoon, Campbell won a provincial junior title i ...

at third,

Liz Fyfe Elisabeth Fyfe (born May 11, 1987) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She attended the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts as second on Kerri Einarson's Team Manitoba. She was a Canadian Junior Curling Champion having won the 2008 ...

at second and

Rachel Erickson Rachel Erickson (born January 9, 1999) is a Canadian curler from Maryfield, Saskatchewan. She is currently the lead on Team Chelsea Carey. She was the alternate for the Mackenzie Zacharias rink that won the 2020 World Junior Curling Championshi ...

at lead. In 2023, it was announced that Sinclair would be joining team

Laurie St-Georges Laurie St-Georges (born August 23, 1997) is a Canadian curler from Laval, Quebec. She currently skips her own team on the World Curling Tour. St-Georges represented Quebec at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and led her team to a 6–6 re ...

as her third. Due to recent participation in the US playdown process, she will not be eligible to play in Canadian playdowns until the 2024–25 season.

Personal life

Sinclair was born in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, where her Canadian father was on military exchange. The family moved back to Canada when she was 2, settling in Northern Quebec before moving to Ontario. In October 2016 it was announced that she would appear as "Miss July" in the 2017 Women of Curling calendar. Sinclair was born with a hearing disability. She graduated

with an honours degree in International Business and did a year of study abroad in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Teams

Grand Slam record

When Sinclair won the

, she became the first ever American skip to win a Grand Slam tournament.

Former events

Notes

References

External links

*
Team Sinclair Webpage

Curl Up With Jamie webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Jamie Living people 1992 births Curlers from Ottawa Canadian women curlers American female curlers American emigrants to Canada Sportspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Continental Cup of Curling participants Carleton University alumni American curling champions