Lauren Rajala (born September 30, 2002 in

Garson, Ontario Nickel Centre (1996 census population 13,017) was a town in Ontario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000. It was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolve ...

) is a Canadian curler. She was Canada's

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a f ...

at the

2020 Winter Youth Olympics The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games (german: Olympische Jugend-Winterspiele 2020; french: Jeux olympiques de la jeunesse d'hiver de 2020; it, Giochi olimpici giovanili invernali del 2020; rm, Gieus olimpics da giuvenils d'enviern 2020), offic ...

Early life

Rajala began curling at the age of 7 with her father, Brian at the

Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company *Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario *Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario People: *Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and earls of Fauconbe ...

Curling Club.

Career

Junior career

Rajala is a three-time Northern Ontario U18 champion and a two-time U21 (Junior) champion. She won U18 titles on teams skipped by Bella Croisier in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The Croisier rink also played in the 2018 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they lost all four of their matches. Their win at the 2018 U18 Northern Ontario championship qualified them to represent the region at the

2018 Canadian U18 Curling Championships The 2018 Canadian U18 Curling Championships was held from April 9 to 14 at the W.C. O'Neill Arena Complex and Heather Curling Club in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen ...

. There, the team went 4–3. The team had much more success at the

2019 Canadian U18 Curling Championships The 2019 Canadian U18 Curling Championships were held from April 2 to 7 at the Glen Allan Recreation Complex and the Sherwood Park Curling Club in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Men Round-robin standings ''Final round-robin standings'' Knockout r ...

, going on to win the gold medal. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in C ...

. Months before winning the 2019 U18 title, the team represented Ontario at the

2019 Canada Winter Games The 2019 Canada Winter Games, officially known as the XXVII Canada Games, is a Canadian multi-sport event that was held in Red Deer, Alberta, from February 15, 2019, to March 3, 2019. These were the third Canada Winter Games held in the province o ...

, where they also won the gold medal. In May 2019, Rajala was selected to be a member of the Canadian curling team at the

. She was selected to be Canada's flag bearer in the Opening Ceremonies of the event. The Canadian team, skipped by

Nathan Young Nathan Young is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama ''Misfits'', portrayed by Robert Sheehan. He first appeared in Series 1 Episode 1 and departed in a webisode entitled "Vegas Baby!" after Sheehan quit th ...

went 5–0 in group play, but lost in their quarter-final match to Japan, eliminating them from medal competition. In the mixed doubles event, she was paired with Slovenia's Bine Sever. The pair lost their only game, to France's Chana Beitone and Russia's Nikolai Lysakov, who went on to win the silver medal. Rajala won her first Northern Ontario junior title throwing second stones for Nova Scotian Isabelle Ladouceur in 2021, and then playing second for Manitoba-import Katy Lukowich in 2022 when Lukowich took over the reins. The 2021

Canadian Junior Curling Championships The Canadian Junior Curling Championships is an annual curling tournament held to determine the best junior-level curling team in Canada. Junior level curlers must be under the age of 21 as of June 30 in the year prior to the tournament. The even ...

were cancelled that season due to the pandemic, but the team played in the

2021 World Junior Qualification Event The 2021 New Holland World Junior Qualification Event was held from November 22 to 27 at the Saskatoon Granite Curling Club in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This one time event was used to select Canada's representatives for the 2022 World Junior Cu ...

later in the year. The team won the event, qualifying them to represent Canada at the

2022 World Junior Curling Championships The 2022 World Junior Curling Championships were held from May 15 to 22 at the Jönköping Curling Club in Jönköping, Sweden. The event was originally scheduled to be held March 5 to 12, however, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sw ...

. There, the team finished with a 3–6 record (9th place), relegating Canada to the World Junior-B Championship for the following season. Playing with Team Lukowich at the 2022 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team made it as far as the semifinals where they lost to Ontario 1 (skipped by

Emily Deschenes Emily Deschenes (born December 25, 2002) is a Canadian curler from Ottawa, Ontario. Career Deschenes skipped her rink to silver at the 2019 Canadian U18 Curling Championships in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Deschenes was selected to represent Canada ...

). They then lost in the bronze medal game to Alberta 2. In 2022, Rajala moved to

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 749,6 ...

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 ...

to be able to continue to play with Lukowich on a junior team that also included Mikaylah Lyburn and Makenna Hadway. While the team was unable to win the Manitoba juniors that season, the team did qualify for the 2023 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts. There, the team finished with a 2–3 record, missing the playoffs.

Women's career

After her junior career, Rajala joined the Emma Artichuk rink out of

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

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 ...

playing third. The team played in qualifiers for the 2024 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and were one of the four teams that qualified.

Personal life

Rajala attended

Lasalle Secondary School Lasalle Secondary School is located in the New Sudbury neighbourhood of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. It offers both the English and French Immersion programs. There are three different Specialist High Skills Majors (SHSMs) available to students a ...

for high school. As of 2022, she attended

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

, where she took Forensic Science. Her U18 and Canada Winter Games gold medallist teams were inducted into the

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and to ...

Sports Hall of Fame as "team of the year" in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajala, Lauren Curlers from Northern Ontario 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury Laurentian University alumni Canadian women curlers Curlers at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics Canadian people of Finnish descent Curlers from Winnipeg