Tyler George | |
---|---|
Born | October 6, 1982 |
Team | |
Curling club | Duluth CC, Duluth, MN |
Career | |
World Championship appearances | 4 (2010, 2015, 2016, 2017) |
Olympic appearances | 1 (2018) |
Medal record |
Tyler George (born October 6, 1982) 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.
George competed at the United States Junior National Championships several times but never made it past the semifinals. However, in 2001 he was invited to be the alternate on Andy Roza's team at the 2001 World Junior Curling Championships, where they defeated Scotland's David Edwards in the bronze medal match.
In 2002 George teamed up with Shellan Reed and Patti Luke, two of the previous year's Minnesota Women's Club State Champions, [1] and Gary Luke, to play as a mixed team. They won the Minnesota Mixed State Championship and made it to the finals of the National Mixed Championship, ultimately earning silver medals after losing to Brady Clark's team. [2] [3]
George's first trip to the Men's National Championship was in 2008. He skipped his team of Kris Perkovich, Phill Drobnick, and Kevin Johnson to a fifth place finish, missing the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker to four-time national champion Jason Larway. [4] The next year Mark Haluptzok replaced Drobnick on Team George and they returned to the National Championship, which doubled as the Olympic Trials for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They finished the round-robin with only one loss, securing the number one seed in the page playoffs. They lost the final to John Shuster by one point, with a final score of 9–10, settling for silver medals and giving the Olympic berth to Shuster. [5]
For a single season, 2009–10, George joined Pete Fenson's team at lead. They won the 2010 United States Men's Championship, earning George his first chance to represent the United States at Men's Worlds. The 2010 World Men's Championship was held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and Team Fenson finished in fourth when they lost to Scotland's Warwick Smith in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game. [6]
After leaving the Fenson team George again formed his own team, consisting of Chris Plys, Rich Ruohonen and Phill Drobnick. They played in the 2011 US Nationals, where they went through the round robin with a 7–2 win–loss record. They were defeated by George's former skip Fenson in the 1 vs. 2 page playoffs and again in the final, earning George his second US silver medal. Colin Hufman replaced Drobnick the following season and they finished the 2012 US Nationals in eighth place. [7] The 2013 National Championship yielded better results, again earning the silver medal, this time losing to Brady Clark in the final. [8] Their runner-up finish qualified the team to participate at the 2013 United States Olympic Curling Trials, where they finished tied for third place. [9]
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. George did not attend due to his work. After the combine John Shuster, three-time Olympian at that point, was dropped from the HPP and in response created a new team nicknamed "The Rejects", bringing on fellow combine rejects John Landsteiner and Matt Hamilton at lead and second, respectively, and George at third. [10] They maintained this line-up for four seasons and found great success. At the National Championships in 2015 they defeated both HPP teams to win the gold medal. [11] 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. [12] As a result of its success, Team Shuster was added to the High Performance Program for 2016. [10]
George 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. [13] 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. [14] [15] For the 2016–17 season they added Joe Polo, a former teammate of George and Shuster, 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. [16]
At the 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials George and his team beat Heath McCormick's team in a best-of-three final series to earn his first trip to the Olympics. [17] At 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. [10] [18] [19] This was the first Olympic gold medal in curling for the United States.
After winning gold, George elected to temporarily step away from curling, citing his desires to take time off to "...recharge the battery, let my body heal." [20] [21] He has become a sports ambassador for the United States Curling Association, making appearances and doing outreach to the curling community in the United States. [22] [23]
George coached Luc Violette's Team United States at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships. [24] They finished in seventh place. [25]
George works as a general manager for George's Liquor. [26]
Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate | Coach | Events |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999–00 | Tanner Hammerschmidt | Nick Myers | Dan Garvin | Nathan Annis | Tyler George | Tom George | 2000 USJCC (5th) [27] |
2002–03 | Tyler George | Mike Moore | Nick Young | Jordan Atherine | Tom Moore | Mark Lazar | 2003 USJCC (SF) [28] |
2007–08 | Tyler George | Kris Perkovich | Phill Drobnick | Kevin Johnson | Tom George | 2008 USMCC (5th) | |
2008–09 | Tyler George | Kris Perkovich | Kevin Johnson | Mark Haluptzok | 2009 USMCC/USOCT ![]() | ||
2009–10 | Pete Fenson | Shawn Rojeski | Joe Polo | Tyler George | Mark Haluptzok (WMCC) | Ed Lukowich | 2010 USMCC ![]() 2010 WMCC (4th) |
2010–11 | Tyler George | Chris Plys | Rich Ruohonen | Phill Drobnick | 2011 USMCC ![]() | ||
2011–12 | Tyler George | Chris Plys | Rich Ruohonen | Colin Hufman | 2012 USMCC (8th) | ||
2012–13 | Chris Plys (Fourth) | Tyler George (Skip) | Rich Ruohonen | Colin Hufman | 2013 USMCC ![]() | ||
2013–14 | Chris Plys (Fourth) | Tyler George (Skip) | Rich Ruohonen | Colin Hufman | Craig Brown | 2013 USOCT (4th) | |
Tyler George | Bill Stopera | Dean Gemmell | Martin Sather | 2014 USMC (6th) | |||
2014–15 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | Craig Brown (WMCC) | Pete Fenson | 2015 USMCC ![]() 2015 WMCC (5th) |
2015–16 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | Kroy Nernberger (WMCC) | Phill Drobnick | 2016 USNCC ![]() 2016 WMCC ![]() |
2016–17 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | Joe Polo | Phill Drobnick | 2017 USMCC ![]() 2017 WMCC (4th) |
2017–18 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | Joe Polo | Phill Drobnick | 2017 USOCT ![]() 2018 OG ![]() |
Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Events |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001–02 | Tyler George | Shellan Reed | Gary Luke | Patti Luke | 2002 USMxCC ![]() |
2018–19 | Tyler George | Courtney George | Derek Benson | Jordan Moulton | 2019 USMxCC (8th) |
Season | Male | Female | Events |
---|---|---|---|
2010–11 | Tyler George | Courtney George | 2011 USMDCC ![]() |
2014–15 | Tyler George | Courtney George | 2015 USMDCC (DNQ) |
2015–16 | Tyler George | Courtney George | US World Trials (4th) [29] |
2016–17 | Tyler George | Courtney George | 2017 USMDCC (DNQ) |
2017–18 [30] | Tyler George | Courtney George |
Peter Fenson is an American curler. He was the skip of the men's rink that represented the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal for the United States in curling. He has won eight national championships, the most recent in Philadelphia in March 2014, and six as skip.
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.
Todd Birr is an American curler. He was a bronze medalist at the 2007 World Men's Curling Championship.
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 nine World Curling Championships.
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.
Matthew James Hamilton is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. 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.
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.
Phill Drobnick is an American curler who has been involved with curling since 1986.
Courtney George is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota.
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.
Brady Clark is an American curler from Lynnwood, Washington. Clark is a ten-time national mixed champion, three-time national mixed doubles champion, and two-time national men's champion. He has played in three World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships and one World Men's Championship.
Rebecca Lynn Hamilton is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. 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.
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.
Korey Dropkin is an American curler originally from Southborough, Massachusetts.
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.
The United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed doubles curling in the United States. The winning team in the tournament represents the United States at that year's World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
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.
Mark Fenner is an American curler from Bemidji, Minnesota. He is a two-time junior national champion and won his first United States Men's National Championship in 2021.
... recharge the battery, let my body heal.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)