Olympic gold medalist John Landsteiner steps away from elite curling
Landsteiner, a 35-year-old who competed at the last three Olympics, called it 'a long, difficult, and heartfelt decision' in a social media post.
'As life has progressed during this quad, with the addition of my two young children and my ongoing full-time career as an engineer with Lake Superior Consulting, it has become clear to me that time spent with my family means more than the grind that the run to 2026 will require,' the post read.
Landsteiner served as the lead for Shuster's team at the last three Olympics, meaning he threw the first two stones of each end.
In 2018, Shuster, Landsteiner, Tyler George and Matt Hamilton won the U.S.' first Olympic curling title.
George left elite curling after those Games and was replaced on the team by Chris Plys, who had previously been the alternate on Shuster's team at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Hamilton, who made his Olympic debut in 2018, is still on Shuster's team.
Colin Hufman, a 2022 Olympic alternate who played one game in Beijing, has been on the active team Shuster roster the last two seasons with Hamilton and Landsteiner taking turns as alternates at major competitions.
This past winter, Landsteiner was the alternate as Shuster's team lost in the U.S. Championship semifinals, its first time being beaten for a national title since 2016.
The 2026 Olympic Trials are in November in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The winner will advance to an international tournament in Canada in December to determine the last teams to qualify for the Milan Cortina Games.
Shuster, a 42-year-old who made his Olympic debut in Italy in 2006, will bid to make a sixth Winter Olympic team, which would tie the U.S. record across all sports held by retired Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick.
But he will do it without his fellow Duluth, Minnesota, resident Landsteiner, who still plans to play recreationally.
'Curling was the sole reason I went to college and now reside in Duluth, MN,' Landsteiner's post read. 'After my junior career ended, I was fortunate to be asked to play with John Shuster—and the rest was history. Curling has taken me around the world to places I never thought possible and has shaped who I am today.'
Nick Zaccardi,
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