Jason Gunnlaugson is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
curler currently living in
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
.
Gunnlaugson is known for having been hired by the Russian Curling Federation (RCF) to represent the country at the
2014 Winter Olympics
, ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'')
, nations = 88
, events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, athletes = 2,873
, opening = 7 February 2014
, closing = 23 February 2014
, opened_by = President Vladimir Putin
, cauldron =
, stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
. The deal which was announced in April 2010 fell through in November that year, when the Gunnlaugson team was fired by the RCF.
Career
Prior to his deal to play for
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, Gunnlaugson had skipped his team out of
Beausejour, Manitoba
Beausejour () is a town in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is 46 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, just west of the Canadian Shield and Whiteshell Provincial Park. The French language, French name ...
. In 2009, Gunnlaugson took over the reins of
Daley Peters
Daley Peters (born September 18, 1984) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He currently plays third on Team Corey Chambers.
Career
Peters was a back to back Manitoba Junior curling champion in 2004 and 2005, the first Junior Men's ski ...
's team when Peters left the team to curl with his father
Vic Peters
Victor Alvin "Vic" Peters (March 24, 1955 – March 27, 2016) was a Canadian curler who was a three-time Manitoba curling champion, and one-time national champion as winner of the 1992 Labatt Brier.
Peters was once considered a member of Manit ...
. Gunnlaugson had been a member of the Peters team solely for the 2008-09 season, prior to that he had played third on the
Reid Carruthers
Reid Carruthers (born December 30, 1984) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Carruthers was the 2011 world champion—winning gold as a second on Jeff Stoughton's team—as well as a six-time provincial champion, the 2003 junior prov ...
team.
Gunnlaugson acquired a berth at the
2009 Olympic Pre-Trials through his CTRS ranking from September 2007 to April 2009, highest of teams not already qualified. Most of those points were acquired earlier as part of the Reid Carruthers team, the Gunnlaugson team was the last team to qualify for the pre-trials. The four-some surprised many by being one of the four teams to qualify for the main Olympic trials, defeating
Mike McEwen with the last rock in the extra end of the 'C' Final. However, at the trials, the team finished winless, with an 0-7 record.
Coming from curling strong Manitoba, Gunnlaugson won the
Viterra Provincial Championships for the first time in 2020 to play in the
Brier
Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to:
* Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket
People
* Brier (surname)
* Briers, a surname
* Briars (surname)
Places
* Briar, Missouri, U.S.
* Bri ...
. He also played second for Manitoba (skipped by Carruthers) at the 2008
Canadian Mixed Curling Championship
The Canadian Mixed Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed curling in Canada. The winners of the tournament will represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship.
In mixed curling, the positions on a team must a ...
.
Gunnlaugson is well known in the curling community for his up-weight peel shots. He is able to throw a rock with a 4-second
peel (time measured from
hogline to hogline). Some of his shots at the 2008 Canadian Mixed Tournament were captured on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. His teammates were unable to keep up with the speed of the rock.
Joining the Russians
On April 28, 2010 Jason Gunnlaugson announced his deal with the Russian Curling Federation. The negotiations were for Jason Gunnlaugson and teammates Tyler Forrest and Justin Richter to pair with two Russian curlers (
Alexey Stukalskiy
Alexey Vitalyevich Stukalskiy (russian: link=no, Алексей Витальевич Стукальский; born 8 July 1988) is a Russian curler. He plays fourth stones for Andrey Drozdov on the Russian national team.
Career
Stukalskiy began ...
and
Aleksandr Kozyrev) to create a Russian team to qualify for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. The deal involved each of the players earning $100,000 to train.
In November 2010, Gunnlaugson won the
Russian Men's Curling Cup. His team defeated
Artem Shmakov's
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...
rink in the final by a score of 7-1.
However, later that month, Gunnlaugson, Forrest and Richter refused to renounce their Canadian citizenships in order to fast track their acquiring of Russian citizenships in order to play at the
2010 European Curling Championships
The 2010 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships were held in Champéry, Switzerland from December 3–11, 2010. The Group C matches took place from September 24–28 at the Greenacres Ice Rink in Howwood, Scotland. The winners of the Group ...
. After that, the Russian Curling Federation fired the three Canadians.
The Canadian Curling Association ruled that despite winning the Russian cup, the team would still be eligible to compete for
the Brier
The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply (and more commonly) the Brier (''french: Le Brier''), is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada. The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee and ...
, Canada's national championship. However, the team was eliminated from even playing in the
Manitoba provincial championship, after failing to qualify out of their zone.
Relocating to British Columbia
At the end of the 2011-12 curling season, Gunnlaugson relocated to British Columbia after taking a job with his uncle's company. Initially Gunnlaugson was planning to take a year off from competing. For the 2012-13 season Gunnlaugson teamed up with
Jim Cotter, playing third and replacing
Kevin Folk
Kevin Folk (born July 26, 1980 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian curler from Kelowna, British Columbia. He previously played third for Jim Cotter.
Career
Folk won the 2000 Canadian Junior Curling Championships playing third for Brad ...
who moved to Calgary. The team won one event together, the
2012 Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic. They also played in four slams, making it to the finals of the
2012 Rogers Masters of Curling. The arrangement would only last one season. Gunnlaugson would remain as the team's alternate for part of the 2013-14 season, after
John Morris was added to the team. He was their alternate at the
2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials but was replaced by
Jody Epp Jody may refer to:
*Jody (given name), a list of people with the given name
*Jody (singer), French singer, real name Julie Erikssen
* "Jody" (song), 1986 single by Jermaine Stewart
*"Jody", a 1982 song by America from ''View from the Ground''
*"Jod ...
for the
2014 Tim Hortons Brier.
Back to Manitoba
Gunnlaugson returned to Manitoba in 2014, eventually joining the
William Lyburn
William Lyburn (born May 8, 1975 in Dumfries, Scotland) is a Scottish-Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Career
Lyburn won the Scottish junior title with his older brother Allan Lyburn in 1992 and going to the 1992 World Junior Champio ...
rink at third for one season. The team won the
MCT Championships and would place fourth at the
2016 Manitoba provincial men's championship. Gunnlaugson left the rink after the season, and formed a new team, skipping a rink consisting of
Colton Lott
Colton Lott (born July 21, 1995) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba. He currently plays second on Team Matt Dunstone, and also curls with Kadriana Lott in mixed doubles.
Career Juniors
Lott's first curling success came with rep ...
,
Kyle Doering
Kyle or Kyles may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ireland
* Kyle, County Laois
* Kyle, County Wexford
Scotland
* Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...
and
Robbie Gordon. The team won the
Performance Spider Midweek Special and finished fourth at the
2017 Viterra Championship
The 2017 Viterra Championship, Manitoba's provincial men's curling championship, was held from February 8 to 12 at the Stride Place in Portage la Priarie. The winning team represented Manitoba at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier
The 2017 Tim Hortons ...
, Manitoba's provincial championship.
After the
2016-17 curling season, Gunnlaugson formed a new team of
Alex Forrest,
Ian McMillan and
Connor Njegovan
Connor Njegovan (born June 23, 1992) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He currently plays lead on Team Reid Carruthers.
Career
Juniors
Njegovan made his first and only Canadian Junior Curling Championships appearance in 2010 playin ...
. Early on in the
2017-18 curling season, the team won the
2017 GSOC Tour Challenge
The 2017 GSOC Tour Challenge was held from September 5 to 10 at the Co-operators Centre at Evraz Place in Regina, Saskatchewan. This was the first Grand Slam of the 2017–18 curling season.
There were two tiers in each of the men's and women' ...
Tier 2 event, defeating Gunnlaugson's former skip, William Lyburn in the final. That season, they also won the
Mother Club Fall Curling Classic
The Mother Club Fall Curling Classic is an annual bonspiel on the men's and women's curling tour. It is held annually in late September at the Granite Curling Club in Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province ...
and the
MCT Championships. The team played in the
2017 Olympic Pre-trials. There, they went 3-3 in the round robin portion, putting them in a tiebreaker against
Jamie Murphy. They beat Murphy, but lost in the B quarterfinals against
Glenn Howard
Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight ...
. Gunnlaugson was invited to play as
Brendan Bottcher
Brendan Michael Bottcher (born December 19, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Bottcher is a three-time provincial men's champion, and was the skip of the 2021 Canadian men's championship team, having led Alberta to victory ...
's alternate at the main trials, but the team failed to qualify for the playoffs. Later in the season, at the
2018 Viterra Championship
The 2018 Viterra Championship, Manitoba's provincial men's curling championship, was held from January 31 to February 4 at the Winkler Centennial Arena in Winkler. The winning Reid Carruthers team represented Manitoba at the 2018 Tim Hortons Br ...
provincial playdowns, the Gunnlaugson rink was eliminated after only three games. In mixed doubles play, Gunnlaugson and partner
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 ...
won the
Pacific Northwest Mixed Doubles Invitational.
In 2018,
Denni Neufeld
Dennison "Denni" Neufeld (born January 25, 1981) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Born in Steinbach, Manitoba, Neufeld won a gold medal for Manitoba at the 1999 Canada Games. In 2001 he joined Mike McEwen's team. After a few years ...
was added to the team, replacing McMillan. In the
2018-19 curling season, the team represented Canada at the
second leg of the 2018-19 Curling World Cup, but finished the event with a 1-5 record, in last place. They had more success at the
2019 Viterra Championship
The 2019 Viterra Championship, Manitoba's provincial men's curling championship, was held from February 6 to 10 at the Tundra Oil and Gas Place in Virden. The winning Team Carruthers represented Manitoba at the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's n ...
, making it to the semifinal, where they lost to William Lyburn. On the tour, the team played in the
2018 Elite 10, the
2018 Masters, the
2018 Tour Challenge, the
2018 National
The 2018 BOOST National was held from December 11 to 16 at the Conception Bay South Arena in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador. This will be the fourth Grand Slam and second major of the 2018–19 curling season.
The first all-S ...
, the
2019 Canadian Open, only making it to the playoffs at the National.
In 2019, the team added
Adam Casey, replacing Neufeld. The team won the
2019 Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker
The 2019 Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker was held from August 23 to 25 in Morris, Manitoba. It was the fourth event of the 2019–20 curling season. The total purse for the event was $7,480 on both the Men's and Women's side.
In the ...
at the start of the
2019-20 season. They also won the
Mother Club Fall Curling Classic
The Mother Club Fall Curling Classic is an annual bonspiel on the men's and women's curling tour. It is held annually in late September at the Granite Curling Club in Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province ...
and the
Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic
The Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic is an annual bonspiel on the men's World Curling Tour. It is held annually in January at the Coyotes Curling Club in Tempe, Arizona. The event is named for two-time World Champion Ed Werenich
Edward Wereni ...
. Gunnlaugson won his first
Provincial title at the
2020 Viterra Championship
The 2020 Viterra Championship, Manitoba's provincial men's curling championship, was held from February 5 to 9 at the Eric Coy Arena in Winnipeg. The winning Jason Gunnlaugson rink represented Manitoba at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier and finished ...
after defeating the
Mike McEwen rink 7–4 in the final. Team Gunnlaugson represented Manitoba at the
2020 Tim Hortons Brier, where they finished in eighth place with a 5–6 record. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the
Players' Championship
The Players' Championship is one of the final events on the World Curling Tour (WCT) and is a part of the Grand Slam of Curling.
From 2016 to 2019, it was the penultimate slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors". The even ...
and the
Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled 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 ...
. Following the season, the rink added
Matt Wozniak
Matt Wozniak (born January 6, 1983) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wozniak is the former second for the Mike McEwen team which curled out of the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club in Winnipeg.
Career
2005–2010
In 2005, Woznia ...
at second, with Casey moving to third, replacing Forrest.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba
The COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba is a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Manitoba officially reported its first cases on Mar ...
, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Gunnlaugson was chosen to represent Manitoba at the
2021 Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, Gunnlaugson led his team to a 6–6 eighth place finish. The team wrapped up the season by playing in the
2021 Champions Cup and the
2021 Players' Championship
The 2021 Princess Auto Players' Championship was held April 20–25, 2021 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, it was announced that both the Players' Championship a ...
.
The next season, the team won the
2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials
The 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials were held from October 25 to 31 at the Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. The event qualified two teams for the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Qualif ...
to qualify the rink for the
2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. At the Trials, Gunnlaugson led his rink to a 2–6 record, missing the playoffs. The team played in the
2022 Viterra Championship, but were eliminated after winning just two games. Despite this, they qualified for the
2022 Tim Hortons Brier as a Wild Card team. Gunnlaugson led his team to a 5–3 record at the Brier, and qualified for the championship after winning a tiebreaker. However, they were eliminated after losing their first game against Team Canada, skipped by
Brendan Bottcher
Brendan Michael Bottcher (born December 19, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Bottcher is a three-time provincial men's champion, and was the skip of the 2021 Canadian men's championship team, having led Alberta to victory ...
. On the tour, the team won the 2021
DeKalb Superspiel
The DeKalb Superspiel is a curling bonspiel that takes place at the Morris Curling Club in Morris, Manitoba. It was an event on the World Curling Tour until 2019 and the Manitoba Curling Tour, and also takes part in the Canadian Team Ranking ...
, and played in the
2021 Masters, the
2021 National, the
2022 Players' Championship
The 2022 Players' Championship, Princess Auto Players' Championship was held April 12–17 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It was the fourth Grand Slam of Curling, Grand Slam and final major of the 2021–22 curling season, f ...
and the
2022 Champions Cup, making it to the quarters in the last two events.
In April 2022, it was announced that Gunnlaugson and his rink were splitting up, and he would be joining a new team skipped by
Reid Carruthers
Reid Carruthers (born December 30, 1984) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Carruthers was the 2011 world champion—winning gold as a second on Jeff Stoughton's team—as well as a six-time provincial champion, the 2003 junior prov ...
.
On December 19, 2022 it was announced that Gunnlaugson had left the Carruthers rink.
Personal life
Gunnlaugson is employed as a business owner for DV Painting.
[2017 Home Hardware RTTR Media Guide] He is married to fellow curler
Theresa Cannon
Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name.
It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...
.
Jason's father
Darryl Gunnlaugson curled with
Jeff Stoughton
Jeffrey R. "Jeff" Stoughton (born July 26, 1963) is a Canadian retired curler. He is a three-time Brier champion and two-time World champion as skip. Stoughton retired from competitive curling in 2015. He is one of the most successful Manitoba ...
in 1994-95, was fifth for Stoughton when they won the world championship in 1995-96, and was again fifth in 1999-2000 when they won Manitoba and finished fourth in Canada. Jason's grandfather, Darryl's father
Lloyd Gunnlaugson, was Manitoba men's champion in 1983 at age 54, and was
Canadian senior men's champion in 1982, 83, and 84.
Teams
Grand Slam record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnlaugson, Jason
Canadian poker players
Curlers from British Columbia
Canadian male curlers
Russian male curlers
Curlers from Winnipeg
1984 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Vernon, British Columbia
Canada Cup (curling) participants