Jason Gunnlaugson

Jason Gunnlaugson
Curler
Born	(1984-06-02) June 2, 1984 Winnipeg, Manitoba
Team
Curling club	Granite CC, Winnipeg, MB
Skip	Jason Gunnlaugson
Third	Colton Lott
Second	Kyle Doering
Lead	Robbie Gordon
Career
Brier appearances	0
Top CTRS ranking	13th (2009–10 & 2015-16)
Medal record Men's curling Representing  British Columbia Canadian Olympic Curling Trials 2013 Winnipeg Representing Moscow Russian Men's Curling Cup 2010 Tver

Jason Gunnlaugson (born July 2, 1984 in Winnipeg) is a Canadian curler currently living in Vernon, British Columbia.

Gunnlaugson is known for having been hired by the Russian Curling Federation to represent the country at the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[1] The deal which was announced in April 2010 fell through in November that year, when the Gunnlaugson team was fired by the RCF.^[2]

Career

Prior to his deal to play for Russia, Gunnlaugson had skipped his team out of Beausejour, Manitoba. In 2009, Gunnlaugson took over the reins of Daley Peters's team when Peters left the team to curl with his father Vic Peters. Gunnlaugson had been a member of the Peters team solely for the 2008-09 season, prior to that he had played third on the Reid Carruthers team.

Gunnlaugson acquired a berth at the 2009 Olympic Pre-Trials through his CTRS ranking from September 2007 to April 2009, highest of teams not already qualified.^[3] Most of those points were acquired earlier as part of the Reid Carruthers team, the Gunnlaugson team was the last team to qualify for the pre-trials. The four-some surprised many by being one of the four teams to qualify for the main Olympic trials, defeating Mike McEwen with the last rock in the extra end of the 'C' Final.^[4] However, at the trials, the team finished winless, with an 0-7 record.

Coming from curling strong Manitoba, with teams like Jeff Stoughton and Kerry Burtnyk, Gunnlaugson has been unable to win the Safeway Provincial Championships to play in the Brier thus far in his young career. However, he did play second for Manitoba (skipped by Carruthers) at the 2008 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship.

Gunnlaugson is well known in the curling community for his up weight peel shots. He is able to throw a rock with a 4-second peel (time measured from hogline to hogline). Some of his shots were captured on YouTube from the 2008 Canadian Mixed Tournament. His female team mates were unable to keep up with the speed of the rock. YouTube Video

In addition to curling, Gunnlaugson lists his profession as a poker player.

Joining the Russians

On April 28, 2010 Jason Gunnlaugson announced his deal with the Russian Curling Federation. The negotiations were for Jason Gunnlaugson and teammates Tyler Forrest and Justin Richter to pair with two Russian curlers to create a Russian team to qualify for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.^[5] The deal involved each of the players earning $100,000 to train.

In November 2010, Gunnlaugson won the Russian Men's Curling Cup, the Russian national championships. His team defeated Artem Shmakov's Chelyabinsk rink in the final by a score of 7-1.^[6]

However, later that month, Gunnlaugson, Forrest and Richter refused to renounce their Canadian citizenships in order to fast track their acquiring of Russian citizenships in order to play at the 2010 European Curling Championships. After that, the Russian Curling Federation fired the three Canadians.^[7]

The Canadian Curling Association ruled that despite winning the Russian championship, the team would still be eligible to compete for the Brier, Canada's national championship. However, the team was eliminated from even playing in the Manitoba provincial championship, after failing to qualify out of their zone.

Relocating to British Columbia

At the end of the 2011-12 curling season, Gunnlaugson relocated to British Columbia after taking a job with his uncle's company. Initially Gunnlaugson was planning to take a year off from competing. For the 2012-13 season Gunnlaugson will team up with Jim Cotter, playing third and replacing Kevin Folk who moved to Calgary.^[8]

Teams

Grand Slam record

Key

• C – Champion
• F – Lost final
• SF – Lost semi final
• QF – Lost quarter final
• Q – Did not make playoffs
• DNP – Did not participate in event

References

External links

• WCT Player profile