Jill Thurston (born December 2, 1971) 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. She skipped her own team out of the Granite Curling Club in

Winnipeg 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, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

Career

Juniors

Thurston would represent Manitoba at the 1991 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. Her team consisting of

Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned over five decades, she was nominated ...

, Kristie Moroz and Kelly MacKenzie would finish first place in round robin play, with a 10-1 finish. The team would get a bye into the final, however they would end up losing to New Brunswick's Heather Smith.

1997–2007

Thurston was a participant at the

1997 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 1997 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials were held from November 22 to 30, 1997 at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba. They were held to determine the Canadian National men's and women's Teams for the 1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 ...

, which was won by

Sandra Schmirler Sandra Marie Schmirler, (June 11, 1963 – March 2, 2000) was a Canadian curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships (Scott Tournament of Hearts) and three World Curling Championships. Schmirler also skipped (captained) her Cana ...

. She would make her first

Scott Tournament of Hearts The Scotties Tournament of Hearts (''french: Le Tournoi des Cœurs Scotties''; commonly referred to as the Scotties) is the annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada, formerly called the Canadian Curling Associat ...

appearance was in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, playing as the alternate for

Connie Laliberte Connie Laliberte (born October 21, 1960) is a Canadian curler from Manitoba and world champion. In 2019, Laliberte was named the tenth greatest Canadian curler in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers. Championships ...

. The team finished first place in round robin, with an 8-3 record. They would lose the 1-2 game to Nova Scotia's

Colleen Jones Colleen Patricia Jones (born December 16, 1959) is a Canadian curler and television personality. She is best known as the skip of two women's world championship teams and six Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's championships, including an un ...

. In the semi-final the team would lose to Team Canada's

Cathy Borst Cathy King (born September 3, 1959), formerly Cathy Borst (Cathy's married name was Borst - when she divorced she went back to her maiden name of King) is a Canadian curler from St. Albert, Alberta. She is a former Canadian champion skip and wo ...

. In 2000 Thurston would move to play third for

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 ...

, when Laliberte became pregnant. The team would win the Manitoba provincial, however before Thurston would play in the National championship, Laliberte returned to the team, throwing third and skipping the game, with Overton-Clapham throwing fourth stones, and Thurston back to alternate. At the

2000 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 2000 Scott Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's national curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boule ...

, the team would finish second place with a 9-2 record in round robin play. They lost the 1-2 game to Ontario's Anne Merklinger and lost the semifinal to British Columbia's Kelley Law who would go on to win the tournament. Thurston's next Scott appearance was in 2006, this time playing third for Janet Harvey. The team would finish with a 4-7 record. Thurston would leave the team and take time off from curling at the end of the 2006/2007 season. Jill Thurston 2013 Liquor Classic

2009–current

After a two-year break from the game, Thurston returned to curling in 2009. Forming a team with

Kristen Phillips Kristen may refer to: *Kristen (given name), includes a list of people with the name *ITC Kristen, a typeface created by George Ryan for the International Typeface Corporation (ITC) *"Kristen", the alias used by Ashley Alexandra Dupré Ashley is a ...

, Leslie Wilson and

Raunora Westcott Raunora Westcott (born May 1, 1976) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Career Juniors Westcott played lead for Team Manitoba (skipped by Kristy Jenion) at the 1996 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. The team finished with a 5- ...

. The team would win the

2010 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2010 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Manitoba's provincial women's curling championship, was held January 6–10 in Killarney, Manitoba. The winning Jill Thurston rink represented team Manitoba at the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Heart ...

and the right to represent Manitoba at the

2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women's national curling championship, was held from January 30 to February 7 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The event was described as having a weaker field than normal, a ...

This would be Thurstons first time skipping a team at the event. The team finished round robin play with a 7-4 record. This was enough to clinch a tiebreaker. Thurston's team would fall short, and she would lose the tie breaker 3-10 to Ontario's

Krista McCarville Krista Lee McCarville (born Krista Lee Scharf on November 10, 1982) is a Canadian curler from Thunder Bay, Ontario. McCarville is a four-time Northern Ontario junior champion, the 2003 Winter Universiade silver medallist, a four-time Ontario p ...

. At the end of the 2009/2010 season, Thurston would drop Wilson and Westcott from the team, (both of whom would end up playing for

), and would add

Jenna Loder Jenna Loder (born July 11, 1988) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She currently plays third on Team Beth Peterson. She is a two-time Canadian junior champion and two-time world junior medallist (2008, 2009), playing third for Kait ...

and Kendra Georges to the team. The team would qualify for the 2011 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they would finish with a disappointing 2-5 record. Following the 2010/2011 season, Thurston would again change her lineup, replacing Phillips and Loder with

Kerri Einarson Kerri Einarson (; born October 3, 1987 as Kerri Flett) is a Canadian Métis curler from Camp Morton, Manitoba, in the Rural Municipality of Gimli. Einarson is the three-time reigning women's national champion in curling, skipping her team to vic ...

and

Sarah Wazney Sarah Pyke (born January 13, 1987 in Winnipeg, Manitoba as Sarah Wazney) is a Canadian curler. She currently plays lead on Team Kristy Watling. She is a former Canadian junior champion and World junior bronze medallist. Curling career Junio ...

. For the third consecutive year Thurston would qualify for the

2012 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2012 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Manitoba's women's provincial curling championship, was held from January 25 to 29 at the Portage Credit Union Centre in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The winning team of Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn La ...

, where she finished round robin tied for second place. She would face

in the tiebreaker game, where the team would lose 5-8. For the 2012/2013 curling season, Thurston has once again changed her lineup, reuniting with Kirsten Phillips, and adding

Brette Richards Brette () is a commune in the Drôme department, administrative region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. Population See also *Communes of the Drôme department The following is a list of the 363 communes of the Drôme department of Fran ...

to the team.http://www.worldcurlingtour.com/teams.php?teamid=60009

Grand Slam record

Former events

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston, Jill 1971 births Canadian women curlers Living people Curlers from Winnipeg Canada Cup (curling) participants