Sterling Middleton (born December 8, 1998) is a Canadian curler, originally from
Fort St. John, British Columbia
Fort St. John is a city located in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The most populous municipality in the Peace River Regional District, the city encompasses a total area of about with 20,155 residents recorded in the 2016 Census. Located ...
. He is a two-time World Junior champion, three-time Canadian Junior Champion, and Youth Olympic gold medallist.
Career
Juniors
Growing up in the
Peace Region
The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; french: Région de la Rivière-de-la-paix) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia, ...
of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
meant that Middleton was eligible to curl competitively out of B.C. and
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. Middleton curled for the
Falher, Alberta
Falher (, ) is a town in the Peace Country area of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the Municipal District of Smoky River No. 130, along Highway 49. Falher is one of the earliest agricultural communities in the Peace River Country and is notab ...
based Dustin Turcotte rink for two seasons from 2013 to 2015. After seeing him at the 2013 B.C. High School Championship, Middleton was picked up to also play for the Tyler Tardi rink in 2014. The team went on to win the BC qualifier for the
2015 Canada Winter Games
The 2015 Canada Winter Games, officially known as the XXV Canada Games, is a Canadian multi-sport event that was held from February 12 to March 1, 2015, in Prince George, British Columbia.
Sports
Alpine skiing
Middleton was chosen to be play lead on the Canadian team at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, along with skip
Mary Fay
Mary Fay (born June 7, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Chester, Nova Scotia.
Curling career
At just 15 years old, Fay and her young rink of Jenn Smith, Karlee Burgess and Janique LeBlanc won the 2014 Nova Scotia Junior women's championship. ...
, Tardi and
Karlee Burgess
Karlee Burgess (born September 14, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She currently plays third on Team Jennifer Jones.
Career
At just 15 years old, Burgess played second for the Mary Fay rink along with, Jenn Smith and Janiq ...
. The team steam-rolled through the opposition, winning all 10 of their games before claiming a gold medal for their country. In the mixed doubles event, Middleton was teamed up with New Zealand's
Holly Thompson
''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
. The pair made it to the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual gold medallists of
Yako Matsuzawa Yako may refer to
* Yako (name)
* Yako Bank Uganda Limited, a Ugandan Tier II credit institution
*Yako (fox), a Japanese spirit possession of foxes
*Yakō Station, a railway station in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
*Yakö people of Nigeria
** ...
of Japan and Philipp Hösli of Switzerland.
Middleton fully joined the Tardi junior men's rink in 2016, playing
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'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hi ...
on the rink. The team won the provincial junior title in 2017. Representing British Columbia at the
2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships
The 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships was held from January 21 to 29 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre and the Esquimalt Curling Club in Esquimalt, British Columbia. The winners represented Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling ...
, the team lost one round robin game en route to winning the national championship, defeating Ontario's Matthew Hall rink in the final. The team represented Canada at the
2017 World Junior Curling Championships
The 2017 World Junior Curling Championships (branded as the 2017 VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships for sponsorship reasons) was held from February 16 to 26 at the Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, South Korea.
The tournament h ...
, where they finished the round robin with a 6–3 record, but lost to Norway in a tiebreaker game. That year, Tardi and Middleton also represented British Columbia at the
2017 Canadian U18 Curling Championships
The 2017 Canadian U18 Curling Championships were held from April 18 to 22 at the Superior Propane Centre and Curl Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and t ...
, losing just one round robin game. However, they were not successful in the playoffs, losing in the semifinal, but rebounded in the bronze medal game, defeating Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter.
In 2018, the Tardi rink won another provincial junior title. At the
2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships
The 2018 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships was held from January 13 to 21 at the Aréna Grand-Mère and the Centre municipal de curling de Shawinigan in Shawinigan, Québec. The winners represented Canada at the 2018 World Juni ...
, the team would defend their title. After losing three round robin games, the team had to fight through a tiebreaker before winning two playoff games, including defeating Northern Ontario's
Tanner Horgan
Tanner Horgan (born February 12, 1998 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian curler. He currently skips his own team.
Career Juniors
As a bantam aged curler, Horgan won three Northern Ontario titles (2010, 2013 and 2015). In 2012, he won a provinc ...
rink in the final. The team represented Canada at the
2018 World Junior Curling Championships
The 2018 World Junior Curling Championships was held from March 3 to 10 at Curl Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, m ...
, where they were much more successful. The team lost two round robin games, and won both playoff games, including defeating Scotland in the final to claim the gold medal.
In 2019, Team Tardi won yet another provincial junior title. At the
2019 Canadian Junior Curling Championships
The 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships was held from January 19 to 27 at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The winners represented Canada at the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships in Liverpool, Nova S ...
, the team won their third-straight national championship. The team lost just one game en route to the title, and defeated Manitoba's J.T. Ryan in the final. The team once again represented Canada at the
2019 World Junior Curling Championships
The 2019 World Junior Curling Championships was held from February 16 to 23 at the Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Men
Teams
Men's teams
Round-robin standings
''Final Round Robin Standings''
Round-robin re ...
. After posting a 7–2 round robin record, they won both playoff games, including defeating Switzerland's
Marco Hösli
Marco Hösli (born 15 May 2000) is a Swiss curler from Ennenda. He is a two-time World Junior silver medallist.
Career Juniors
Hösli skipped Team Switzerland, which also included Philipp Hösli, Marco Hefti and Jannis Spiess at the 2019 World ...
rink in the final.
The 2019-20 curling season would have been the team's last year of junior eligibility, but they decided to make the jump to men's curling full-time, eschewing the junior ranks.
Outside of the Tardi rink, Middleton won the CCAA/Curling Canada College Curling Championships in 2018, playing third on the
Douglas College
Douglas College is the largest public degree-granting college institution in British Columbia, Canada. Close to 17,000 credit students, 8,500 continuing education students and 4,210 international students are enrolled here. Douglas College o ...
curling team.
Men's
While in juniors, the Tardi rink also played in men's events on the
World Curling Tour
The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and mixed doubles curlers in the world.
History
The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later assistance from J ...
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
event at the
2018 Humpty's Champions Cup
The 2018 Humpty's Champions Cup is the final Grand Slam of curling event of the 2017–18 curling season. It was held April 24–29, 2018 at the WinSport Arena, Canada Olympic Park, in Calgary, Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen pr ...
by virtue of winning the World Junior championship. They went 1–3 at the event, missing the playoffs. They won another tour event to begin the next season at the 2018
King Cash Spiel
The King Cash Spiel, formerly the Golden Ears Curling Classic and the Coronation Group Classic, is an annual cashspiel, or curling tournament, that takes place at the Golden Ears Curling Club
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden ...
. The team qualified for the
2019 Champions Cup
The 2019 Humpty's Champions Cup was held from April 23 to 28 at the Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was the eighth and final Grand Slam event of the 2018–19 curling season. In the men's final, Brendan Bottcher defeated Kevi ...
by winning the World Juniors again. There, the team went win-less in their four matches. In their first post-junior season, Team Tardi won the 2019 Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic, and the next season, they won the 2020
Raymond James Kelowna Double Cash
The Kelowna Double Cash is an annual tournament on the men's and women's World Curling Tour. It is held annually in November at the Kelowna Curling Club in Kelowna, British Columbia. The men's event is sponsored by Raymond James Financial and th ...
event.
Middleton played in his first
BC Men's Curling Championship
The BC Men's Curling Championship (formerly the belairdirect BC Men's Provincial Curling Championship and the Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men's Provincials) is the British Columbia provincial championship for men's curling. It was known as the ...
in 2017 as a member of Team Tardi, going 3-3 at the event. The rink didn't enter playdowns in 2018, but were back at it at the
2019 BC Men's Curling Championship
The 2019 BC Men's Curling Championship presented by Barkerville Historic Town & Park and Nufloors the provincial men's curling championship for British Columbia, was held January 29 to February 3 at the West Fraser Centre in Quesnel. The winnin ...
. There, the team were eliminated after posting a 2–3 record. They finally made the playoffs at the
2020 BC Men's Curling Championship
The 2020 BC Men's Curling Championship, the provincial men's curling championship for British Columbia, was held from January 28 to February 2, 2020, at the Western Financial Place in Cranbrook. The winning Jim Cotter rink represented British ...
, where they lost in the final to Jim Cotter.
Team Tardi did not play in any major events in the
2020–21 curling season
The 2020–21 curling season began in August 2020 and ended in May 2021.
''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners will be listed before the women's tournament winners.''
World Curling Federation events
Source:
Champions ...
due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
. The next season, they played at the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials. After finishing group play with a 4–2 record, they lost in the B quarter-finals to
Glenn Howard
Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight, ...
. The team played at the
2022 BC Men's Curling Championship
The 2022 BC Men's Curling Championship, the provincial men's curling championship for British Columbia, was held from January 4 to 9 at the Kamloops Curling Club in Kamloops, British Columbia. The winning Jeff Richard team represented British ...
, where they were eliminated in the C1 vs. C2 page playoff game against Jim Cotter.
The Tardi rink disbanded in 2022. It was later announced that Middleton had joined the
Jacques Gauthier
Jacques Armand Gauthier (born June 7, 1948 in New York City) is an American vertebrate paleontologist, comparative morphologist, and systematist, and one of the founders of the use of cladistics in biology.
Life and career
Gauthier is the s ...
rink for the
2022-23 curling season
The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...
2023 Tim Hortons Brier
The 2023 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 3 to 12 at the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario. The defending champion Team Canada rink, skipped by Brad Gushue won the event, and will go on to re ...
. At the Brier, the team finished with a 3–5 record.
Personal life
Middleton currently lives in
New Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...
. He moved to the Lower Mainland in 2016. In 2022, he worked as a pro shop assistant at a golf course in North Vancouver. He currently works as a club professional at the
Victoria Curling Club
The Victoria Curling Club was founded as the club signed a lease for land with the City of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1950. However, construction did not commence until 1952 as material shortages from the Korean War had caused delays. ...