Marc Kennedy (born February 5, 1982) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

curler, and Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

list from St. Albert, Alberta. He currently plays

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

on Team Brad Jacobs. In 2019, Kennedy was named the greatest Canadian male

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.

Career

Juniors

Kennedy was born in St. Albert, Alberta, the son of Don and Connie. He started curling at age six. He is a Canadian Winter Games champion and three-time provincial junior champion. He won his first provincial men's championship with Kevin Martin in 2007. As a junior, he played second for Carter Rycroft at the 1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and played third for Jeff Erickson at the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and 2001 Canadian Juniors. In 2003 Kennedy was an alternate for the

2003 Winter Universiade The 2003 Winter Universiade, the XXI Winter Universiade, took place in Tarvisio, Italy. Total 1,266 athletes from 41 countries performed. Venues Tarvisio * Alpine skiing * Cross-country skiing * Nordic combined * Ski jumping Other venues ...

gold medal-winning team from

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrolment of approximately 3,375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, ...

skipped by Mike McEwen.

Mens

After 2-time World Junior Champion John Morris moved to Alberta in 2003, Kennedy joined his team at second position. In 2004, they lost the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

final to Randy Ferbey. In 2006, both Morris and Kennedy joined 2-time Brier champion Kevin Martin on his new team. In 2008, Kennedy won the Brier and the World Championships as a member of the team. They repeated their Brier win in 2009, going undefeated for a second straight year and setting a record for consecutive Brier games won (26) previously held by the Ferbey foursome. In 2010, Kennedy won an

Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

in Vancouver with Kevin Martin, John Morris and Ben Hebert as Team Canada defeated Thomas Ulsrud of Norway 6-3 in the Gold Medal Game. After a win at the Alberta provincials, Kennedy headed with Team Martin to the

2011 Tim Hortons Brier The 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held March 5 until March 13, 2011 at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario, London, Ontario. This event marked the 30th time that the province of Ontario has h ...

. They went through the round robin with a 9-2 win–loss record and lost the page 3 vs. 4 playoff game to Ontario and the bronze medal game to Newfoundland/Labrador. Kennedy left the Brier before the bronze medal game because he and his wife were expecting a new child. In 2013, Kennedy and Team Martin won the Alberta provincials with a close win over

Kevin Koe Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975) is a Canadian curling, curler. Koe is a two-time World champion and four-time Canadian champion. He was the skip (curling), skip of the Canadian men's team at the Curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics - Men's to ...

to earn a berth in the

2013 Tim Hortons Brier The 2013 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held from March 2 to 10 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta. This edition of the Brier marked the thirteenth time that Alberta has hosted the Brier, and the sixth t ...

in their hometown

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. On the first day, Kennedy won the Ford Hot Shots skills and shot-making competition that preceded the start of round-robin play. The team played in the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, finishing third. Following Kevin Martin's retirement from curling in 2014, Kennedy joined Team

at third. They played in their first Brier together in 2015, finishing with a 6-5 record, missing the playoffs. In December 2015, Kennedy, along with his teammates, claimed the first berth in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials with their

victory in Grande Prairie, AB. The team continued their winning ways that season by winning the

2016 Tim Hortons Brier The 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 5–13, 2016 at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario. It is the fourth time the Brier has been held in Ottawa, and the fifth time the Brier has been held i ...

and a gold medal at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship. Representing Team Canada as defending champions, the team lost in the final of the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier. The team would go on to win the 2017 Olympic Trials and represented Canada at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

, finishing fourth. Following the 2017-18 season, Kennedy announced he would take a break from competitive curling to heal injuries and focus on family. He subsequently took a position as national team program performance consultant with Curling Canada. He was invited to play third for team Brad Jacobs at the 2018 Canada Cup, to fill in for Ryan Fry, who took a couple of events off, following unsportsmanlike behaviour from an event he played in. Kennedy's addition to the team worked out, and they would win the event. Kennedy announced in March 2019 that he would join Team Jacobs to replace Ryan Fry for the next three curling seasons. In their first event, the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, the team went undefeated up until the final where they would lose to Team Epping. Team Jacobs won three straight Grand Slam events at the Tour Challenge, National and the Canadian Open. They would unsurprisingly win the 2020 Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Curling Championship, going in as the number one seed. At the

2020 Tim Hortons Brier The 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from February 29 to March 8 at the Leon's Centre in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario. The winning Brad Gushue rink was scheduled to represent Canada at the 2020 ...

, they battled through two tiebreakers before losing to

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

's Brad Gushue in the 3 vs. 4 game, all within the same day. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Team Jacobs played in two tour events during the 2020–21 season, winning the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and losing in the qualification game of the Ashley HomeStore Curling Classic. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada w ...

, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Jacobs was chosen to represent Northern Ontario at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, they finished with a 7–5 record. Also during the 2020–21 season, Kennedy served as the alternate for the Brendan Bottcher rink at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship. He was added to the team as a backup plan in case Bottcher's third Darren Moulding's back injury that he sustained during the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship re-emerged as an issue. Kennedy, however, did not have to play in any games for the team as Moulding's back held up for the tournament. Kennedy was named to a third Olympic team as the alternate for the Brad Gushue rink for the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Kennedy's team, skipped by Brad Gushue, qualified as the Canadian representatives by winning the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, defeating Brad Jacobs 4–3 in the final. The team would go onto win the bronze medal with an 8-5 win over the United States. Kennedy would later announce that he would be joining a team skipped by Brendan Bottcher, alongside former teammate Hebert as lead, and teammate from Gushue's Olympic team, Brett Gallant as second. The Bottcher rink began their first season together by winning the 2022 ATB Okotoks Classic. A week later, they played in the inaugural PointsBet Invitational, making it to the semifinals before losing to Matt Dunstone. A few weeks later, the team played in their first Slam together at the 2022 National. After going 3–1 in pool play, they lost in the quarterfinals to Korey Dropkin. Then, they played in the 2022 Tour Challenge where they lost all of their games. They rebounded at the 2022 Masters winning all four of their pool games, and then made it as far as the semifinals where they lost to Joël Retornaz of Italy in a low scoring 3–1 affair. The team began the 2023 calendar year at the 2023 Canadian Open where they won all of their games to win their first Grand Slam title as a foursome. The following month, they played in the 2023 Boston Pizza Cup provincial championship. There, they won all of their games until the final, where they lost to their provincial rivals

who had inherited Bottcher's former front end of Martin and Thiessen. Due to their performance on the tour that season, they still qualified for the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier as the Wild Card #1 entry. At the Brier, Bottcher led the team to a 7–1 record in pool play. The team then made it into the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game after losing to Manitoba (Matt Dunstone) in the qualification final. In the 3 vs. 4 game, they beat Ontario ( Mike McEwen), but then lost in the semifinal when they faced off against Dunstone again, settling for third place. At the final two slams of the year, the team missed the playoffs at the 2023 Players' Championship after going 2–3, but rebounded to go undefeated and win the 2023 Champions Cup. In a change in the qualification format, the Bottcher rink automatically pre-qualified for the 2024 Montana's Brier field based on their 2022–23 Canadian Team Ranking Standings, which meant they bypassed the provincial qualifiers. At the 2024 Brier, the team went 6–2 in their pool, then in the playoffs lost to Gushue in the 1v2 game, and finished 3rd after losing to McEwen in the semifinal. On April 16, 2024, Bottcher's teammates made an announcement that they would be "going in a new direction" at skip, resulting in Bottcher's departure after two seasons. Kennedy, Gallant, and Hebert later announced they would be adding Brad Jacobs as their new skip for the 2024–25 season. In their first season together, the Jacobs team enjoyed plenty of success, finishing second at the 2024 National and the 2025 Masters grand slam events. Like the previous season, the Jacobs team pre-qualified for the 2025 Brier based on their CTRS ranking, which meant they bypassed the provincial qualifiers. At the 2025 Montana's Brier, the Jacobs rink would go on to win the national championship, beating Dunstone in the final and qualifying to represent Canada at the 2025 World Men's Curling Championship. At the 2025 World's, the Jacobs rink would go 11–1 in round robin play, but would lose to Scotland's Bruce Mouat in the semi-final. The team would rebound to win the bronze medal, beating China's Xu Xiaoming 11–2 in the bronze medal game.

Personal life

Kennedy is married to his wife, Nicole Kennedy (née MacDonald), and they have two daughters. His brother Glen is also a curler. Kennedy has a marketing degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

. He was a franchise owner for M&M Meat Shops until he sold his business in 2012 to focus more on curling. He also worked as a real estate agent for Sarasota Realty. Kennedy is a Hec Gervais Scholarship winner, as well as a Can Fund recipient He is also currently an MBA Student at the

. Marc and Nicole began a youth bonspiel in 2016 called the Marc Kennedy Junior Classic, held in St. Albert and Edmonton. The Bonspiel saw a spin-off program in 2018 (Over The Pond) introducing international teams selected through the Nordic Jr Curling Tour. Two Canadian teams are also selected and visit the year-end event in Sweden. Unofficially, the MKJC is the largest youth/junior bonspiel in the World hosting almost 70 teams at its peak. In his youth, Kennedy also played

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

and played for the

Edmonton Huskies The Edmonton Huskies are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The Huskies play in the six-team Prairie Football Conference, which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) and competes annually for the nat ...

Teams

Awards & recognitions

* Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2007 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2008 * World Curling Tour MVP 2008 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2009 * University Of Alberta Award of Excellence 2010 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2011 * Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Second) 2013 * Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Third) 2015 * TSN Top Male Second Of All Time 2019 * TSN #8 Top Male Player Of All Time 2019 * Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Third) 2020 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Third) 2022 * Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Third) 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Marc 1982 births Living people Curlers from Edmonton Sportspeople from St. Albert, Alberta World curling champions Brier champions Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic curlers for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Canadian male curlers Continental Cup of Curling participants Winter World University Games medalists in curling Curlers at the 2018 Winter Olympics FISU World University Games gold medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade Canada Cup (curling) participants University of Alberta alumni Players of Canadian football from Alberta 21st-century Canadian sportsmen