Anne O'Hara

Last updated
Anne O'Hara
Born (2002-10-14) October 14, 2002 (age 21)
Team
Curling club Fairbanks CC,
Fairbanks, AK [1]
Skip Delaney Strouse
Third Sarah Anderson
Second Sydney Mullaney
Lead Anne O'Hara
Mixed doubles
partner
Samuel Strouse
Curling career Curling pictogram.svg
Member AssociationFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Medal record
Women's Curling
Representing Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2022 Jönköping
Winter Universiade
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2023 Saranac Lake
United States Women's Championship
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2023 Denver
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2024 East Rutherford
Arctic Winter Games
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2014 Fairbanks

Anne Kirsten O'Hara [2] (born October 14, 2002, in Anchorage) is an American curler from Fairbanks, Alaska. [3] She currently plays lead on Team Delaney Strouse. She won the bronze medal for the United States at the 2022 World Junior Curling Championships and the 2023 Winter World University Games.

Contents

Career

In 2014, O'Hara competed in the 2014 Arctic Winter Games as lead for the Alaskan team led by Cora Farrell. At the event, the team finished in third place and won the bronze medal. [4] Two years later, the team represented Alaska internationally at the 2016 U18 International Curling Championships, missing the playoffs with a 2–3 record. [5]

For the next three seasons, her team, now led by Ariel Traxler, competed in the United States Junior Curling Championships but were unsuccessful in reaching the playoffs. During the 2019–20 season, she played in the qualifiers for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics as lead for the Kevin Tuma rink. After going undefeated in the round robin, the team lost in the semifinals and were eliminated. [6] At the junior championships, her team started with four straight wins before losing their last three games, missing the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year. Later in the season, she competed in her first United States Women's Curling Championship as lead for the Patti Lank rink. At the championship, the team finished with a 3–4 record, just missing the playoffs. [7]

The following season, her junior team of Traxler, Elizabeth Janiak and Sara Olson qualified for the 2021 United States Women's Curling Championship which was held in a bio-secure bubble at the Wausau Curling Club in Wausau, Wisconsin in May 2021. [8] They finished with a 1–5 record, not advancing to the playoffs. [9] O'Hara also played in the bubble for the 2021 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship with partner Coleman Thurston where they went 2–3.

Team Traxler, which became Team Olson in the off-season, began the 2021–22 season by finishing second at the 2021 U.S. junior championship. After going 4–1 in the round robin, they beat Andie McDonald in the semifinal before losing to Delaney Strouse in the gold medal game. [10] After the event, O'Hara was added to the Strouse rink as their new third, replacing Leah Yavarow ahead of the 2021 United States Olympic curling trials. At the Trials, they finished tied for fifth with a 3–7 record. As a member of Team Strouse, O'Hara became part of the national junior team. In January 2022, the team was set to compete in the 2022 World Junior-B Curling Championships, however, an outbreak of COVID cases in the men's event forced the women's event to be cancelled. [11] Because of this, the World Curling Federation named the top three ranked nations who had not already qualified for the world championship as the qualifiers, with the United States being one of them. [12] In May 2022, they represented the U.S. at the 2022 World Junior Curling Championships. Through the round robin, the team finished in second place with a 7–2 record, suffering losses to Latvia's Evelīna Barone and the top ranked Norway's Eirin Mesloe. [13] In the semifinals, they met the eventual champions Japan's Sae Yamamoto where they fell 7–3. They bounced back in the bronze medal game, however, beating Norway in a 10–6 game. [14] Also during the season, O'Hara's Alaskan junior team finished third at the 2022 U.S. juniors, being eliminated in the semifinal game. [15] O'Hara and Thurston teamed up again for the 2022 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship where they lost in the final qualifying event.

Joining Strouse fulltime for the 2022–23 season, O'Hara found major success, beginning at the US Open of Curling where they had an undefeated run until the final where they were defeated by Ha Seung-youn. [16] They also qualified for the playoffs in their next event, the 2022 Stu Sells Toronto Tankard, before falling in the quarterfinals to Lauren Mann. The team next played in the playdowns for the 2023 Winter World University Games where they won all four of their games to win the event. [17] Back on tour, they had four more playoff appearances, reaching three quarterfinals and one semifinal at the Curling Stadium Contender Series. In the new year, the team represented the U.S. on home soil at the 2023 Winter World University Games in Saranac Lake, New York. The team was dominant through the round robin, with Strouse, O'Hara, Sydney Mullaney, Rebecca Rodgers and Susan Dudt securing an 8–1 record, finishing just behind Korea's Ha Seung-youn who was their sole loss. In the semifinals, they met China's Han Yu where they suffered a narrow 6–5 loss. They would claim the bronze medal after a 7–3 win against Great Britain's Fay Henderson. [18] Continuing their momentum from the season, Team Strouse finished 6–1 through the round robin at the 2023 United States Women's Curling Championship. [19] In the 1 vs. 2 game, they faced the top ranked Tabitha Peterson rink where they gave up four in the tenth end to lose 11–10. They rebounded by beating Sarah Anderson 9–4 in the semifinal. They could not take revenge on Peterson in the final, however, dropping the game 8–5 and settling for the silver medal. [20] Also during the 2022–23 season, O'Hara joined the Tessa Thurlow rink as their alternate for the 2023 World Junior Curling Championships in her final year of junior eligibility. [21] There, the team had mixed results, placing seventh at the end of the competition with a 3–6 record. O'Hara played in five of the teams nine games. [22]

Beginning their season overseas, Team Strouse won the 2023 Euro Super Series to begin the 2023–24 season. Facing Italy's Stefania Constantini in the final, they scored three in the seventh end before stealing a single in the eighth to complete a 6–5 comeback. [23] They also reached the final of their next event, the 2023 Icebreaker Challenge where they lost to Kate Cameron. [24] After a semifinal finish at the 2023 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, Team Strouse won the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic by winning seven straight games. In the championship game, they won 6–1 against Jolene Campbell. [25] With all the points they accumulated in the first part of the season, the team qualified for the 2023 Tour Challenge Tier 2 Grand Slam of Curling event. [26] There, they finished with a 2–2 record which was not enough to make the playoffs. They bounced back the following week, however, making it to the final of the Saville Grand Prix where they came up short against Selena Sturmay. [27] They also made it to the semifinals of the Curl Mesabi Classic and the DeKalb Superspiel. Now ranked inside the top sixteen teams in the world, Team Strouse qualified for three Tier 1 Slam events. Despite winless records at the 2023 National and the 2024 Canadian Open, they finished 2–2 at the 2023 Masters. This qualified them for a tiebreaker which they lost to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg. [28] The team ended the season at the 2024 United States Women's Curling Championship where they qualified for the playoffs with a 5–2 record. After defeating Miranda Scheel in the 3 vs. 4 game, they lost to the Sarah Anderson rink 11–7 in the semifinal. [29]

Personal life

O'Hara is currently a student at the University of Minnesota. She previously attended West Valley High School. [30] She began curling at the age of four. [2]

Teams

SeasonSkipThirdSecondLeadAlternate
2013–14 [31] Cora Farrell Ariel Traxler Naimy Schommer Anne O'Hara
2014–15Cora FarrellAriel TraxlerNaimy SchommerAnne O'Hara
2015–16Cora FarrellAriel TraxlerNaimy SchommerAnne O'Hara
2016–17Ariel Traxler Sidney Schroeder Anne O'HaraNaimy Schommer Andie McDonald
2017–18Ariel TraxlerSidney SchroederAndie McDonaldAnne O'Hara
2018–19 Suzanna Viau Anna Netteberg Anne O'Hara Emma Rau
2019–20 Christina McMakin Anna NettebergAnne O'HaraEmma Rau Maggie Payette
2020–21 Elizabeth Janiak (Fourth) Sara Olson Anne O'HaraAriel Traxler (Skip) Katherine Gourianova
2021–22Elizabeth Janiak (Fourth)Anne O'HaraSara Olson (Skip) Kaitlin Murphy
Delaney Strouse Sydney Mullaney Rebecca Rodgers Susan Dudt
2022–23Delaney StrouseAnne O'HaraSydney MullaneyRebecca RodgersSusan Dudt
2023–24Delaney StrouseAnne O'HaraSydney MullaneyRebecca RodgersSusan Dudt
2024–25Delaney Strouse Sarah Anderson Sydney MullaneyAnne O'Hara

Related Research Articles

Silvana Petra Tirinzoni is a Swiss curler from Zurich. She is a four-time women's world champion skip and four-time Grand Slam champion. She is a former world junior champion and reigning European champion. Tirinzoni also represented Switzerland at the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics, after winning the 2017 Swiss Olympic Curling Trials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becca Hamilton</span> American Olympic curler

Rebecca Lynn Hamilton is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. She is a five-time national women's champion, three-time national mixed doubles champion, two-time national junior champion, and a two-time Olympian. At the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, she competed in mixed doubles curling with her brother, Matt, along with playing with the women's curling team. She was again on the women's curling team during the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Cory Thiesse is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. She currently plays third on Team Tabitha Peterson. She is a three-time defending U.S. women's champion, winning titles in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Thiesse was one of the top junior women's curlers in the United States, playing in six national junior championships and winning four of them. She was the alternate on Nina Roth's 2018 United States Olympic team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinami Yoshida</span> Japanese curler

Chinami Yoshida is a Japanese curler. She currently plays third for Team Loco Solare, which is skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa. The team won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Tabitha Skelly Peterson is an American curler from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a bronze medalist at the 2010 World Junior Championships and is a three-time women's national champion. She currently is skip of her own team, having traded positions with Nina Roth during the 2020 off-season.

Tara S. Peterson is an American curler from Shoreview, Minnesota. She currently plays second for her sister Tabitha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Min-ji (curler)</span> South Korean curler (born 1999)

Kim Min-ji is a South Korean curler. She currently plays third on the Gyeonggi Province curling team skipped by Gim Eun-ji. She is a 2018 Pacific-Asia Curling champion.

Galina Petrovna Arsenkina is a retired Russian curler from Moscow. She competed at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics as the second on the Olympic Athletes from Russia and Russian Olympic Committee women's curling teams, skipped by Victoria Moiseeva and Alina Kovaleva respectively. She won two medals at the World Women's Curling Championship: a silver in 2021 and a bronze in 2018. She was also the second on Team Moiseeva when they won the 2016 European Curling Championships.

Angela Romei is an Italian curler from Pinerolo. She currently plays second on the Italian national women's curling team, skipped by Stefania Constantini.

Stefania Constantini is an Italian curler from Cortina d'Ampezzo. She currently skips the Italian National Women's Curling Team. She has played in five World Championships, and six European Championships. She won a silver medal at the 2023 European Curling Championships, a bronze medal at the 2017 European Curling Championships and a gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Paterson</span> Scottish curler

Ross Paterson is a retired Scottish curler from Glasgow. During his career, he represented Scotland at four World Men's Curling Championships and four European Curling Championships, winning a bronze medal at both the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship and the 2019 European Curling Championships. He also won silver at the 2007 Winter Universiade and bronze at the 2005 World Junior Curling Championships in his junior career. In 2018, he skipped his team to victory at the 2018 National Grand Slam of Curling event. He is a two-time champion at the Scottish Men's Curling Championship, winning the title in both 2016 and 2022.

Kim Hye-rin is a South Korean curler from Uijeongbu. She currently plays third on the Chuncheon City Hall curling team, skipped by Ha Seung-youn. While playing for Kim Min-ji, She won a gold medal at the 2018 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships and a silver medal at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships.

Yang Tae-i is a South Korean curler from Uijeongbu. She currently plays second on the Chuncheon City Hall curling team, skipped by Ha Seung-youn. While playing with Kim Min-ji, she won a gold medal at the 2018 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships and a silver medal at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships.

Kim Su-jin is a South Korean curler from Uijeongbu. She currently plays lead on the Chuncheon City Hall curling team, skipped by Ha Seung-youn. While playing with Kim Min-ji, she won a gold medal at the 2018 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships and a silver medal at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships.

Ross Whyte is a Scottish curler from Stirling. Skipping his own team, Whyte has won silver at the 2018 World Junior Curling Championships and won bronze at the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships and 2019 Winter Universiade. As alternate for the Bruce Mouat rink, he won two European championship titles and earned a silver medal in the men's team event of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Delaney Strouse is an American curler from Midland, Michigan. She currently skips her own team out of Traverse City. She is a two-time champion of the United States Junior Curling Championships, going on to win the bronze medal at the 2022 World Junior Curling Championships and the 2023 Winter World University Games.

Sydney Mullaney is an American curler from Concord, Massachusetts. She currently plays second on Team Delaney Strouse. She is a two-time champion of the United States Junior Curling Championships, going on to win the bronze medal at the 2022 World Junior Curling Championships and the 2023 Winter World University Games. She also won the 2019 United States Mixed Curling Championship.

Susan Dudt is an American curler from Malvern, Pennsylvania. She is a two-time champion of the United States Junior Curling Championships, going on to win the bronze medal at the 2022 World Junior Curling Championships and the 2023 Winter World University Games.

Rebecca Rodgers is an American curler originally from Leyden, Massachusetts, now living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She currently plays lead on Team Christine McMakin. She won the 2020 United States Junior Curling Championships and represented the U.S. at the 2023 Winter World University Games.

Daniel "Danny" Casper is an American curler from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He currently skips his own team out of Chaska. He is a former U.S. junior champion, going on to win the silver medal at the 2023 Winter World University Games.

References

  1. "USA Curling National Team Athletes". USA Curling. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "2014 Arctic Winter Games Athlete Profile". 2014 Arctic Winter Games. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  3. Matias Saari (May 25, 2022). "Anne O'Hara of Fairbanks helps Team USA win bronze at World Junior Curling Championships". Alaska Sports Report. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  4. "2014 Arcitic Winter Games Junior Female Curling Results". 2014 Arctic Winter Games. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  5. "2016 Optimist U18 Women's International". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  6. "2020 USA Youth Olympic Games Qualifier". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  7. "2020 USA Curling National Championship". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  8. "2021 Men's, Women's, and Mixed doubles national championships". USA Curling. March 29, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  9. "Playoffs set at 2021 U.S. Women's National Championship". USA Curling. May 29, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  10. "Junior Curling". USA Curling. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  11. "World Junior-B Curling Championships 2022 cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak". World Curling Federation. January 6, 2022. Archived from the original on January 24, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  12. "World Junior Curling Championships 2022 postponed". World Curling Federation. January 21, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  13. "O'Hara shines for US at World Jr. Curling Championships". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. May 21, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  14. "Japan win World Junior women's title". World Curling Federation. May 22, 2022. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  15. "Team Tamboli wins 2022 U.S. Junior Women's Curling National Championship title". USA Curling. April 30, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  16. "2022 CURVE US Open of Curling – Championships". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  17. "United States World University Games Playdown". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  18. "Great Britain men and China women win FISU World University Games". World Curling Federation. January 22, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  19. "Playoffs set at 2023 USA Curling men's and women's national championships". USA Curling. February 10, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  20. "2023 USA Curling women's national champions crowned". USA Curling. February 11, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  21. "Team USA ready to go at 2023 World Juniors in Germany". USA Curling. February 21, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  22. "Anne O'Hara". World Curling Federation. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  23. "2023 Euro Super Series". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  24. "Cameron, Skrlik, Mouat all winners on Tour this weekend". TSN. August 28, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  25. "McCarville wins with new teammate Kelly while Tirinzoni continues dominance". TSN. September 17, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  26. Jonathan Brazeau (September 27, 2023). "64 teams set for HearingLife Tour Challenge in Niagara Falls". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  27. "Sturmay wins Saville Grand Prix". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  28. Jonathan Brazeau (December 16, 2023). "Whyte beats Edin to earn final playoff spot at WFG Masters". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  29. "Peterson, Shuster defend national titles". USA Curling. February 5, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  30. "Anne O'Hara, Team USA take curling bronze at World University Games". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. January 20, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  31. "Anne O'Hara Past Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 23, 2024.