Matt Hamilton (curler)

Last updated

Matthew Hamilton
Curler
DSS at 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang - Matt and Becca Hamilton (cropped).jpg
Born (1989-02-19) February 19, 1989 (age 35)
Madison, Wisconsin
Team
Curling club Madison CC
McFarland, WI
Skip John Shuster
Third Chris Plys
Second Colin Hufman
Lead Matt Hamilton
Alternate John Landsteiner
Mixed doubles
partner		 Becca Hamilton
Curling career Curling pictogram.svg
Member AssociationFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
World Championship
appearances		7 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024)
World Mixed Doubles Championship
appearances		3 (2017, 2022, 2024)
Olympic
appearances		2 (2018, 2022)
Medal record
Men's Curling
Representing Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Winter Olympics
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 Pyeongchang Team
World Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2016 Basel
World Junior Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2008 Östersund
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2009 Vancouver
US Men's Championship
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2020 Cheney
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Kalamazoo
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Everett
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Kalamazoo
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Denver
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 East Rutherford
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2014 Philadelphia
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2016 Jacksonville
US Olympic Trials
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Omaha
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2021 Omaha
US Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Blaine
US Mixed Doubles Championship
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Blaine
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2022 Middleton
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 Traverse City

Matthew James Hamilton (born February 19, 1989) is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. [1] He is a World Junior Champion, World Men's bronze medalist, and Olympic gold medalist. Hamilton currently plays second for the Duluth, Minnesota-based John Shuster team.

Contents

Curling career

2007–2014: Early career

Hamilton played for skip Jeremy Roe at the 2007 and 2008 United States Men's National Championships, placing seventh [2] and ninth, [3] respectively. In 2008 he also joined Chris Plys' junior team, who had won the National Junior Championship the two previous years. Hamilton helped make it four Junior National Titles in a row for Plys, winning the 2008 and 2009 championships. [4]

As national champions, Hamilton and Team Plys represented the United States at the World Junior Championships. At the 2008 World Juniors in Östersund, Sweden they took home gold medals after beating Sweden's Oskar Eriksson 9–5 in the final. While in Sweden, Hamilton won the championship's 2008 Sportsmanship Award, an award only given to one male junior curler and one female junior curler. [1]

The following year, at the 2009 World Junior Championships held in the newly completed Vancouver Olympic Centre, they failed to defend their title, ending up with bronze medals. [4] Hamilton and his juniors team also competed at the 2009 United States Olympic Trials, which doubled as that year's national championship, finishing in eighth place with a 3–6 record.

For the 2009–10 season Hamilton returned to Jeremy Roe's team, as third.

In the stages leading up to the 2011 United States Men's Curling Championship, he played as Paul Pustovar's second through the Medford qualifier and the challenge round, eventually qualifying for the Nationals. He replaced Pustovar as skip in the Nationals and finished seventh with a 3–6 win–loss record.

Starting with the 2011–12 curling season, Hamilton joined Craig Brown at third for three seasons. This stint culminated with a silver medal at the 2014 National Championship, Hamilton's first men's championship medal.

2014–2018: Gold with Team Shuster

After the 2014 Winter Olympics, the United States Curling Association held an athlete combine to determine which curlers to include in their High Performance Program (HPP) aimed at having better success at the next Olympics. Hamilton attended the combine but was not chosen as one of the ten male HPP curlers. John Shuster, three-time Olympian at that point, was also not chosen and, in response, created a new team nicknamed "The Rejects", bringing on Hamilton at second, fellow Olympian and combine reject John Landsteiner at lead, and Tyler George at third, who hadn't attended the combine due to his work. [5] They maintained this line-up for four seasons and found great success. At their first National Championships together in 2015, they defeated Hamilton's former skip Brown in the final to win the gold medal. [6] Representing the United States at the 2015 World Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Team Shuster missed out on the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker to Finland's Aku Kauste. [7] As a result of its success, Team Shuster was added to the High Performance Program for 2016. [5]

Hamilton and his team came up just short of defending their national title in 2016, losing to Brady Clark in the final. Despite finishing in second, Team Shuster earned enough points throughout the season to secure their return trip to the World Championship. [8] In Basel, Switzerland they defeated Japan's Yusuke Morozumi in the bronze medal match, earning the first World Men's medal for the United States since 2007. [9] For the 2016–17 season they added Joe Polo, a former teammate of Shuster and George, as alternate and won the 2017 National Championship. At the 2017 World Championship, their third Worlds in a row, they lost in the bronze medal game against Team Switzerland, skipped by Peter de Cruz. [10] Hamilton attended a second world curling championship this season, representing the United States at the 2017 World Mixed Doubles Championship after he and his sister and doubles partner Becca Hamilton won the US Championship. At the Worlds in Lethbridge, Alberta, they won their group during the round-robin phase and were the second seed going into the playoffs but ultimately ended in tenth place. [11]

Early in his fourth season on Team Shuster, Hamilton won the 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials [5] with them and then a month later won the 2017 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials with Becca, earning his spot in both curling disciplines for his first Olympics.

In the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the US team lost four of its first six matches and needed to win all of its three remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs, but all of its remaining opponents (Canada, Switzerland, and Great Britain) were currently among the top four teams. Nevertheless, the US team won all three matches to finish the round-robin in third place with a record of 5–4. In the semifinals, they defeated Canada's Kevin Koe, a two-time world champion, to reach the gold-medal match versus Niklas Edin's team representing Sweden. The gold-medal game was close through seven ends, with the score tied 5–5, but the United States scored five in the eighth end to set up a 10–7 victory. [5] [12] [13] This was the first Olympic gold medal in curling for the United States. In the mixed doubles competition, the Hamilton siblings did not fare as well, finishing in sixth place with a 2–5 record. [14]

2018–present: Post-Olympics

After the Olympics, George took a break from competitive curling, and Team Shuster replaced him at third with Chris Plys. The slightly revamped team continued winning, taking gold at the 2019 United States Men's Championship. At the 2019 World Men's Championship, they finished in fifth place, having lost to Japan in the first round of playoffs. They defended their United States title at the 2020 United States Men's Championship, defeating Rich Ruohonen in the final to finish the tournament undefeated. [15] The national title would have earned Team Shuster a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup, [16] as well as the chance to represent the United States at the 2020 World Men's Curling Championship, but both events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [17]

Team Shuster represented the United States at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship, which was played in a fan-less bubble in Calgary due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There, the team led the U.S. to a 10–3 round robin record, in third place. [18] They played Switzerland in the playoffs, in a game which was delayed a day due to some curlers testing positive for the virus. In the game, Switzerland, skipped by Peter de Cruz, beat the Americans to advance to the semifinals. [19]

Personal life

Hamilton is a former research and development technician [20] [21] for Spectrum Brands. He currently works for ESPN as a radio host. He is married and resides in McFarland, Wisconsin. [22] His sister, Becca Hamilton, is also an elite curler. She played with Nina Roth in the women's event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, as well as with Matt in the mixed doubles event.

Hamilton gained notoriety on Twitter after tweets comparing him to video game character Mario in 2018 and Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas in 2022 surfaced. [23] [24]

Teams

Men's

SeasonSkipThirdSecondLeadAlternateCoachEvents
2006–07Jeremy RoeMatt HamiltonScott TempletonMark Hartman Kroy Nernberger 2007 USMCC (7th)
2007–08 Chris Plys Aanders Brorson Matt Perushek Matt HamiltonDaniel Plys Phill Drobnick 2008 USJCC Gold medal icon.svg
2008 WJCC Gold medal icon.svg
Jeremy RoePatrick Roe Richard Maskel Mark HartmanMatt Hamilton 2008 USMCC (9th)
2008–09Chris PlysAanders BrorsonMatt PerushekMatt HamiltonAaron WaldPhill Drobnick2009 USJCC Gold medal icon.svg
2009 WJCC Bronze medal icon.svg
Chris PlysAanders BrorsonMatt PerushekMatt HamiltonPhill Drobnick 2009 USMCC/USOCT (9th)
2009–10Jeremy RoeMatt HamiltonPatrick RoeTom Gabower
2010–11Matt HamiltonJeremy RoeJoseph BonfoeyPatrick Roe Paul Pustovar 2011 USMCC (7th)
2011–12 Craig Brown Matt HamiltonKroy NernbergerDerrick Casper 2012 USMCC (4th)
2013–14Craig BrownKroy NernbergerMatt HamiltonJon Brunt 2013 USMCC (7th)
2013–14Craig BrownKroy NernbergerMatt HamiltonJon Brunt 2014 USMCC Silver medal icon.svg
2014–15 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Craig Brown (WMCC) Pete Fenson 2015 USMCC Gold medal icon.svg
2015 WMCC (5th)
2015–16John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerKroy Nernberger (WMCC)Phill Drobnick 2016 USMCC Silver medal icon.svg
2016 WMCC Bronze medal icon.svg
2016–17John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn Landsteiner Joe Polo Phill Drobnick 2017 USMCC Gold medal icon.svg
2017 WMCC (4th)
2017–18John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerJoe PoloPhill Drobnick 2017 USOCT Gold medal icon.svg
2018 OG Gold medal icon.svg
2018–19John ShusterChris PlysMatt HamiltonJohn Landsteiner Korey Dropkin (WMCC)Derek Brown CWC/2 Gold medal icon.svg
2019 USMCC Gold medal icon.svg
2019 WMCC (5th)
CWC/GF (6th)
2019–20John ShusterChris PlysMatt HamiltonJohn Landsteiner Sean Beighton 2020 USMCC Gold medal icon.svg
2020–21 [25] John ShusterChris PlysMatt HamiltonJohn Landsteiner Colin Hufman Sean Beighton 2021 WMCC (5th)
2021–22John ShusterChris PlysMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerColin Hufman 2021 USOCT Gold medal icon.svg
2022 OG (4th)
2022–23John ShusterChris PlysMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerColin Hufman 2023 USMCC Gold medal icon.svg
2023 WMCC (8th)
2023–24John ShusterChris PlysColin HufmanMatt HamiltonJohn Landsteiner 2024 USMCC Gold medal icon.svg
2024 WMCC

Mixed doubles

SeasonFemaleMaleEvents
2015–16 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton2016 US World Trials (4th) [26]
2016–17Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2017 USMDCC Gold medal icon.svg, 2017 WMDCC (10th)
2017–18Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2017 USMDOT Gold medal icon.svg, 2018 OG (6th)
2018–19Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2019 USMDCC (QF)
2019–20Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2020 USMDCC (QF)
2020–21 [27] Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton
2021–22Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2021 USMDOT (5th), 2022 USMDCC Gold medal icon.svg, 2022 WMDCC (8th)
2022–23Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2023 USMDCC (5th)
2023–24Becca HamiltonMatt Hamilton 2024 USMDCC Gold medal icon.svg, [28] 2024 WMDCC

Related Research Articles

Joseph Polo is an American curler who is best known for winning a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics and being the alternate on the gold-medal winning United States men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Polo was raised in Floodwood, Minnesota before moving to Cass Lake. He learned to curl in nearby Bemidji at the age of 10 in the Bemidji Curling Club's Sunday Night Junior League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Shuster</span> American curler

John Shuster is an American curler who lives in Superior, Wisconsin. He led Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first American team to ever win gold in curling. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He has played in five straight Winter Olympics and eleven World Curling Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Curling Association</span> National governing body of the sport of curling

The United States Curling Association is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions both domestic and abroad. Curling's recent popularity has swelled the USCA to 185 curling clubs and approximately 23,500 curlers in the United States. The United States Olympic men's curling teams have seen success in recent years, most notably winning the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, led by skip John Shuster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Plys</span> American curler

Christopher Plys is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He is a Junior World Champion and two-time National Men's Champion. He was the alternate for the United States men's team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a member of both the men's team and the mixed doubles team at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Jason Smith is an American curler from St. Paul, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Roth</span> American curler

Nina Marie Roth is a retired American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. She was the skip of the American women's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the third at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Tyler George is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He is a three-time U.S. Champion, 2016 World bronze medalist, and 2018 Olympic gold medalist. Since the 2018 Olympics, he has taken a break from playing competitive curling, instead spending time as an ambassador and coach for the sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Sinclair</span> Canadian-American curler

Jamie Ann Sinclair is an American-Canadian curler from Osgoode, Ontario and is a three-time U.S. National Champion. Her United States Curling Association membership is through the Charlotte Curling Association in Charlotte, North Carolina where she has a number of personal connections. She grew up in Manotick, Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa.

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

Rebecca Lynn Hamilton is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. She currently plays lead on Team Tabitha Peterson. She is a two-time national women's champion, a 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 is currently the defending U.S. champion skip, and represented her country at the 2022 World Women's Curling Championship. Christensen 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">John Landsteiner</span> American curler

John Landsteiner is an American curler and two-time Olympian. He competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics and won gold as part of John Shuster's team in the 2018 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korey Dropkin</span> American curler

Korey Dropkin is an American curler originally from Southborough, Massachusetts. He currently skips his own team out of Duluth, Minnesota.

Richard Ruohonen is an American curler from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He is a two-time national champion and as such represented the United States at the 2008 and 2018 World Men's Curling Championships.

Greg Persinger is an American curler. He was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was a member of Team USA at the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship.

Colin Hufman is an American curler. He was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and resides in Seattle. He has been a USA Curling Board member since August 2017 and USA Curling Athlete Representative for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Athletes Advisory Council since December 2020.

Sarah Anderson is an American curler from Broomall, Pennsylvania. Along with her twin sister Taylor, she was United States National Champion in 2019 and 2021, and World Junior silver medalist in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship</span>

The 2020 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship was held from February 27 to March 1 at the Bemidji Curling Club in Bemidji, Minnesota. The twelve teams were divided into two pools of six teams each. Each pool played a full round robin with the top three from each pool proceeding to the playoffs. The winning team of Tabitha Peterson and Joe Polo was supposed to represent the United States at the 2020 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Kelowna, Canada but the event got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They will instead compete at the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland as the 2021 U.S. Mixed Doubles National Championship was postponed due to the pandemic.

Andrew Stopera is an American curler from Briarcliff Manor, New York. He currently plays third on Team Korey Dropkin. He is a three-time United States Junior Champion and won the silver medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships.

Madison Bear is an American curler from Portage, Wisconsin. As a junior curler, Bear was a two-time United States champion and a World runner-up.

References

  1. 1 2 "Matt Hamilton". USA Curling. Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  2. ↑ "2007 U.S. National Championships – Round-robin". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  3. ↑ "2008 United States Curling Championships – Standings". CurlingZone. Archived from the original on April 1, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Kolesar, Terry (June 7, 2009). "Plys leads USA to bronze at World Juniors". U.S. Curling News. p. 10. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Peters, Justin (February 22, 2018). "Somebody Needs to Make a Movie About John Shuster and His Ragtag Team of Curling Rejects". Slate Magazine . Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ "2015 USA Men's National Championship – Playoffs". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  7. ↑ "FINLAND EKES OUT TIEBREAKER WIN AT FORD WORLDS". Curling Canada. April 3, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  8. ↑ Davis, Terry (February 13, 2016). "Team Clark sweeps up national title". USA Curling. Archived from the original on February 17, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  9. ↑ Bohnert, Shane (April 10, 2016). "U.S. Men's Curling Team Wins First World Medal In 9 Years". Team USA. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2017". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  11. ↑ "World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships 2017". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  12. ↑ Estes, Gentry (February 23, 2018). "Morning Coffee: To John Shuster of USA Curling: I'm sorry for doubting you". Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  13. ↑ Hendricks, Maggie (February 28, 2018). "Olympic curler John Shuster on the mantra that brought his team back from brink of elimination". USA Today . Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  14. ↑ "XXIII. Olympic Winter Games 2018". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  15. ↑ Schneider, Angela (February 15, 2020). "John Shuster caps unbeaten run through USA Curling Nationals with win over Rich Ruohonen in final". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Ruohonen Joins Shuster in Top Page Game". USA Curling. February 12, 2020. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Canadian curling continues to get hammered by novel coronavirus cancellations". The Star. March 14, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Canada eliminated from men's curling worlds with tense loss to Scotland". CBC. March 14, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  19. ↑ Michael Burns (April 11, 2021). "Scotland and Switzerland advance to semi-finals". World Curling Federation. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 3, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ↑ Jimmy Golen (November 19, 2017). "American curling siblings Matt and Becca Hamilton make Olympics". Denver Post. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  22. ↑ "2023 World Men's Curling Championship Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  23. ↑ "The Winter Olympics' first big star is a curler who looks like Super Mario". February 9, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Valtteri Bottas Hilariously Responds to His Resemblance to Olympian Matt Hamilton". Essentially Sports. February 13, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Team Shuster Returns". USA Curling. May 13, 2020. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  26. ↑ "USA Mixed Doubles World Trials – Round-Robin". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Mixed Doubles Teams Announced". USA Curling. May 22, 2020. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  28. ↑ https://www.curlingzone.com/event.php?view=Scores&eventid=8409#1
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.