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John Landsteiner

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John Landsteiner
Curler
Landsteiner at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Born (1990-05-19) May 19, 1990 (age 34)
Mankato, Minnesota, U.S.[1]
Team
Curling clubDuluth CC,
Duluth, MN[2]
SkipJohn Shuster
ThirdChris Plys
SecondColin Hufman
LeadMatt Hamilton
AlternateJohn Landsteiner
Curling career
Member Association United States
World Championship
appearances		7 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024)
Pan Continental Championship
appearances		1 (2024)
Olympic
appearances		3 (2014, 2018, 2022)
Medal record
Men's Curling
Representing  United States
Winter Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2018 Pyeongchang Team
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Basel
Pan Continental Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Lacombe
US Men's Championship
Gold medal – first place 2015 Kalamazoo
Gold medal – first place 2017 Everett
Gold medal – first place 2019 Kalamazoo
Gold medal – first place 2020 Cheney
Gold medal – first place 2023 Denver
Gold medal – first place 2024 East Rutherford
Silver medal – second place 2016 Jacksonville
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Philadelphia
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Green Bay
US Olympic Trials
Gold medal – first place 2013 Fargo
Gold medal – first place 2017 Omaha
Gold medal – first place 2021 Omaha

John Landsteiner (born May 19, 1990) is an American curler and three-time Olympian. He currently plays lead on Team John Shuster. He won gold as part of Shuster's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics and also competed in 2014 and 2022.[3]

Career

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Landsteiner was a prolific junior curler, playing in the United States Junior Curling Championships six times every year from 2007 through 2011. His best finish was in 2008 when he earned the bronze medal playing lead for Brad Caldwell. In 2011 Landsteiner participated at the World Junior Championships as alternate for Aaron Wald's team.[4]

Since aging out of juniors in 2012, Landsteiner has played lead for John Shuster's team. With this team, Landsteiner has played in seven US National Championships, only missing one year, 2018, because of obligations after the Olympics. Of the seven appearances at the National Championship, Team Shuster earned a medal six times, including gold in 2015, 2017, and 2019.

Landsteiner's team placed first at the 2013 United States Olympic Curling Trials,[1] then earned the final qualification spot for the 2014 Olympics at the qualification event when they won the second qualifier 8–5 over the Czech Republic.[5] At the Winter Games the American men finished 9th out of 10 teams, with a record of 2–7.[6]

After the poor performance at 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. Landsteiner and Shuster were two of the athletes dropped from the HPP. In response, Shuster created a new team nicknamed "The Rejects" with Landsteiner at lead, fellow combine reject Matt Hamilton at second, and Tyler George at third, who hadn't attended the combine due to his work.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] As a result of its success, Team Shuster was added to the High Performance Program for 2016.[7]

Landsteiner 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.[10] 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.[11][12] 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.[13]

At the 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials, Landsteiner and his team beat Heath McCormick's team in a best-of-three final series to represent the US at the Olympics a second time. 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.[7][14][15] This was the first Olympic gold medal in curling for the United States.

Landsteiner and Team Shuster again won the US National Championship in 2019.[16] At the 2019 World Championship they finished 5th.[17] 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.[18] The national title would have earned Team Shuster a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup,[19] 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.[20]

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.[21] 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.[22]

Personal life

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Landsteiner's hometown is Mapleton, Minnesota,[23] and he currently resides in Saginaw, Minnesota, is married and has one child.[24] He graduated from University of Minnesota Duluth in 2013 with a degree in civil engineering.[1][25] He currently works as a integrity engineer[26] for Lake Superior Consulting[27] and is married.[28]

Teams

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Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Coach Events
2007–08 Brad Caldwell Matt Collom Tyler Vietanen John Landsteiner 2008 USJCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2008–09 Brad Caldwell Matt Collom Tyler Vietanen John Landsteiner 2009 USJCC (9th)
2010–11 John Landsteiner Tyler Vietanen Matt Collom Robert Splinter 2011 USJCC (4th)
Aaron Wald Josh Bahr Jared Zezel John Muller John Landsteiner Tim Muller 2011 WJCC (6th)
2011–12 John Shuster Zach Jacobson Jared Zezel John Landsteiner 2012 USMCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2012–13 John Shuster Jeff Isaacson Jared Zezel John Landsteiner 2013 USMCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2013–14 John Shuster Jeff Isaacson Jared Zezel John Landsteiner Craig Brown (OG) Tim Muller 2013 USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2014 USMCC (5th)
2014 OG (9th)
2014–15 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Craig Brown (WMCC) Pete Fenson 2015 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2015 WMCC (5th)
2015–16 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Kroy Nernberger (WMCC) Phill Drobnick 2016 USMCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2016 WMCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2016–17 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Joe Polo Phill Drobnick 2017 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2017 WMCC (4th)
2017–18 John Shuster Tyler George Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Joe Polo Phill Drobnick 2017 USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018 OG 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018–19 John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Korey Dropkin (WMCC) Derek Brown 2019 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2019 WMCC (5th)
2019–20 John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Sean Beighton 2020 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2020–21[29] John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Colin Hufman Sean Beighton 2021 WMCC (5th)
2021–22 John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Colin Hufman 2021 USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2022 OG (4th)
2022–23 John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Colin Hufman Phil Drobnick 2023 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2023 WMCC (8th)
2023–24 John Shuster Chris Plys Colin Hufman Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Theran Michaelis 2024 USMCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2024 WMCC (6th)
2024–25 John Shuster Chris Plys Colin Hufman Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Theran Michaelis 2024 PCCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)

References

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  1. ^ a b c "John Landsteiner". Team USA. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  2. ^ "USA Curling National Team Athletes". USA Curling. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  3. ^ "U.S. men's curling team earns spot in Sochi". ESPN. December 15, 2013. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  4. ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2011: Tournament details". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  5. ^ "U.S. beats Czech Republic 8-5 in men's curling playoff". CTVNews. December 15, 2013. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  6. ^ "XXII. Olympic Winter Games 2014: Tournament details". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c 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.
  8. ^ "2015 USA Men's National Championship – Playoffs". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  9. ^ "FINLAND EKES OUT TIEBREAKER WIN AT FORD WORLDS". Curling Canada. April 3, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "World Men's Curling Championship 2016: Tournament details". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ "Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2017". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Shuster claims seventh national title as he leads team in Kalamazoo". Team USA. Archived from the original on February 17, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  17. ^ "Pioneer Hi-Bred World Men's Curling Championship 2019: Tournament details". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ "Ruohonen Joins Shuster in Top Page Game". USA Curling. February 12, 2020. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  20. ^ "Canadian curling continues to get hammered by novel coronavirus cancellations". The Star. March 14, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  21. ^ "Canada eliminated from men's curling worlds with tense loss to Scotland". CBC. March 14, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  22. ^ Michael Burns (April 11, 2021). "Scotland and Switzerland advance to semi-finals". World Curling Federation. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  23. ^ Frederick, Shane (February 6, 2018). "Mapleton's John Landsteiner returning to Olympic curling rink". Mankato Free Press. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  24. ^ "2023 World Men's Curling Championship Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  25. ^ "UMD Bulldogs Shine at the Winter Olympics". University of Minnesota Duluth. Archived from the original on May 31, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  26. ^ "2021 BKT Tires-OK Tires World Men's Curling Championship Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved March 30, 2021.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ 2018 Continental Cup Media Guide
  28. ^ 2017 Ford Worlds Media Guide: Team USA
  29. ^ "Team Shuster Returns". USA Curling. May 13, 2020. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
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