Sterling Middleton (born December 8, 1998) is a Canadian curler, originally from

Fort St. John, British Columbia Fort St. John is a city located in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The most populous municipality in the Peace River Regional District, the city encompasses a total area of about with 20,155 residents recorded in the 2016 Census. Located ...

. He is a two-time World Junior champion, three-time Canadian Junior Champion, and Youth Olympic gold medallist.

Career

Juniors

Growing up in the Peace Region of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

meant that Middleton was eligible to curl competitively out of B.C. and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Middleton curled for the

Falher, Alberta Falher (, ) is a town in the Peace Country area of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the Municipal District of Smoky River No. 130, along Highway 49. Falher is one of the earliest agricultural communities in the Peace River Country and is notabl ...

based Dustin Turcotte rink for two seasons from 2013 to 2015. After seeing him at the 2013 B.C. High School Championship, Middleton was picked up to also play for the

Tyler Tardi Tyler N. Tardi (born August 10, 1998 in Richmond, British Columbia) is a Canadian curler originally from Cloverdale, British Columbia. Career Juniors Tardi first came onto the national curling scene skipping the host British Columbia team at t ...

rink in 2014. The team went on to win the BC qualifier for the

2015 Canada Winter Games The 2015 Canada Winter Games, officially known as the XXV Canada Games, is a Canadian multi-sport event that was held from February 12 to March 1, 2015, in Prince George, British Columbia. Sports Alpine skiing Middleton was chosen to be play lead on the Canadian team at the

2016 Winter Youth Olympics The 2016 Winter Youth Olympics ( no, Olympiske vinterleker for ungdom 2016; nn, Olympiske vinterleikane for ungdom 2016), officially known as the II Winter Youth Olympic Games, took place in and around Lillehammer, Norway, between 12 February an ...

, along with skip

Mary Fay Mary Fay (born June 7, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Chester, Nova Scotia. Curling career At just 15 years old, Fay and her young rink of Jenn Smith, Karlee Burgess and Janique LeBlanc won the 2014 Nova Scotia Junior women's championship. T ...

, Tardi and

Karlee Burgess Karlee Burgess (born September 14, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She currently plays third on Team Jennifer Jones. Career At just 15 years old, Burgess played second for the Mary Fay rink along with, Jenn Smith and Janiq ...

. The team steam-rolled through the opposition, winning all 10 of their games before claiming a gold medal for their country. In the mixed doubles event, Middleton was teamed up with New Zealand's

Holly Thompson ''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 ...

. The pair made it to the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual gold medallists of Yako Matsuzawa of Japan and Philipp Hösli of Switzerland. Middleton fully joined the Tardi junior men's rink in 2016, playing

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

on the rink. The team won the provincial junior title in 2017. Representing British Columbia at the

2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships was held from January 21 to 29 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre and the Esquimalt Curling Club in Esquimalt, British Columbia. The winners represented Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling Cha ...

, the team lost one round robin game en route to winning the national championship, defeating Ontario's Matthew Hall rink in the final. The team represented Canada at the

2017 World Junior Curling Championships The 2017 World Junior Curling Championships (branded as the 2017 VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships for sponsorship reasons) was held from February 16 to 26 at the Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, South Korea. The tournament h ...

, where they finished the round robin with a 6–3 record, but lost to Norway in a tiebreaker game. That year, Tardi and Middleton also represented British Columbia at the

2017 Canadian U18 Curling Championships The 2017 Canadian U18 Curling Championships were held from April 18 to 22 at the Superior Propane Centre and Curl Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and te ...

, losing just one round robin game. However, they were not successful in the playoffs, losing in the semifinal, but rebounded in the bronze medal game, defeating Saskatchewan's

Rylan Kleiter Rylan Kleiter (born July 4, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He currently skips his own team. Team Kleiter is known for their brightly coloured paint splash pants. Career Kleiter and his rink of Trevor Johnson, Joshua ...

. In 2018, the Tardi rink won another provincial junior title. At the 2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team would defend their title. After losing three round robin games, the team had to fight through a tiebreaker before winning two playoff games, including defeating Northern Ontario's

Tanner Horgan Tanner Horgan (born February 12, 1998 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian curler. He currently skips his own team. Career Juniors As a bantam aged curler, Horgan won three Northern Ontario titles (2010, 2013 and 2015). In 2012, he won a provin ...

rink in the final. The team represented Canada at the

2018 World Junior Curling Championships The 2018 World Junior Curling Championships was held from March 3 to 10 at Curl Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mai ...

, where they were much more successful. The team lost two round robin games, and won both playoff games, including defeating Scotland in the final to claim the gold medal. In 2019, Team Tardi won yet another provincial junior title. At the

2019 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships was held from January 19 to 27 at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The winners represented Canada at the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships in Liverpool, Nova S ...

, the team won their third-straight national championship. The team lost just one game en route to the title, and defeated Manitoba's J.T. Ryan in the final. The team once again represented Canada at the

2019 World Junior Curling Championships The 2019 World Junior Curling Championships was held from February 16 to 23 at the Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from ...

. After posting a 7–2 round robin record, they won both playoff games, including defeating Switzerland's Marco Hösli rink in the final. The 2019-20 curling season would have been the team's last year of junior eligibility, but they decided to make the jump to men's curling full-time, eschewing the junior ranks. Outside of the Tardi rink, Middleton won the CCAA/Curling Canada College Curling Championships in 2018, playing third on the

Douglas College Douglas College is the largest public degree-granting college institution in British Columbia, Canada. Close to 17,000 credit students, 8,500 continuing education students and 4,210 international students are enrolled here. Douglas College o ...

curling team.

Men's

While in juniors, the Tardi rink also played in men's events on the

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 ...

. The team won their first tour event at the 2016

Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic The Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic is an annual curling tournament on the men's and women's curling tour. It is held at the Vernon Curling Club in Vernon, British Columbia. It was a part of the World Curling Tour The World Curling T ...

. They played in his first

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 ...

event 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 ...

by virtue of winning the World Junior championship. They went 1–3 at the event, missing the playoffs. They won another tour event to begin the next season at the 2018

King Cash Spiel The King Cash Spiel, formerly the Golden Ears Curling Classic and the Coronation Group Classic, is an annual cashspiel, or curling tournament, that takes place at the Golden Ears Curling Club in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. The event has been o ...

. The team qualified for the

2019 Champions Cup The 2019 Humpty's Champions Cup was held from April 23 to 28 at the Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was the eighth and final Grand Slam event of the 2018–19 curling season. In the men's final, Brendan Bottcher defeated Kev ...

by winning the World Juniors again. There, the team went win-less in their four matches. In their first post-junior season, Team Tardi won the 2019

, and the next season, they won the 2020 Raymond James Kelowna Double Cash event. Middleton played in his first

BC Men's Curling Championship The BC Men's Curling Championship (formerly the belairdirect BC Men's Provincial Curling Championship and the Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men's Provincials) is the British Columbia provincial championship for men's curling. It was known as the S ...

in 2017 as a member of Team Tardi, going 3-3 at the event. The rink didn't enter playdowns in 2018, but were back at it at the 2019 BC Men's Curling Championship. There, the team were eliminated after posting a 2–3 record. They finally made the playoffs at the 2020 BC Men's Curling Championship, where they lost in the final to Jim Cotter. Team Tardi did not play in any major events in the

2020–21 curling season The 2020–21 curling season began in August 2020 and ended in May 2021. ''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners will be listed before the women's tournament winners.'' World Curling Federation events Source: Champions ...

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 ...

. The next season, they played at 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 ...

. After finishing group play with a 4–2 record, they lost in the B quarter-finals to

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 ...

. The team played at the 2022 BC Men's Curling Championship, where they were eliminated in the C1 vs. C2 page playoff game against Jim Cotter. The Tardi rink disbanded in 2022. It was later announced that Middleton had joined the

Jacques Gauthier Jacques Armand Gauthier (born June 7, 1948 in New York City) is an American vertebrate paleontologist, comparative morphologist, and systematist, and one of the founders of the use of cladistics in biology. Life and career Gauthier is the so ...

rink for the 2022-23 curling season. In their first season together, the team won the 2023 BC Men's Curling Championship and represented British Columbia at the

2023 Tim Hortons Brier The 2023 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 3 to 12 at the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario. The defending champion Team Canada rink, skipped by Brad Gushue won the event, and will go on to re ...

. At the Brier, the team finished with a 3–5 record.

Personal life

Middleton currently lives in

New Westminster, British Columbia New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

. He moved to the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Canadia ...

in 2016. In 2022, he worked as a pro shop assistant at a golf course in North Vancouver. He currently works as a club professional at the

Victoria Curling Club The Victoria Curling Club was founded as the club signed a lease for land with the City of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1950. However, construction did not commence until 1952 as material shortages from the Korean War had caused delays. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Sterling Living people 1998 births Curlers from British Columbia Canadian male curlers People from Fort St. John, British Columbia Sportspeople from New Westminster Curlers at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics Youth Olympic gold medalists for Canada