John Shuster[3] (/ˈʃuːstər/SHOO-stər; born November 3, 1982) is an American curler who lives inSuperior, Wisconsin.[1] He led Team USA to gold at the2018 Winter Olympics, the first American team to ever win gold in curling. He also won a bronze medal at the2006 Winter Olympics inTurin.[4] He has played in five straightWinter Olympics (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) and elevenWorld Curling Championships (2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024).
Shuster began his international career playinglead forPete Fenson's team. He played in his first world competition at the2003 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, where the U.S. finished eighth. The team returned to Worlds at the2005 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, where they lost in a tiebreaker game after posting an 8–3round-robin record. The Fenson team won the2005 United States Olympic Curling Trials and went on to play at the2006 Winter Olympics, where they won a bronze medal (the first-ever Olympic medal in curling for the U.S.). After the season, Shuster left to form his own team.
Shuster played in his first Worlds as askip at the2009 Ford World Men's Curling Championship inMoncton, New Brunswick, finishing with a 7–4 record and losing in a tiebreaker match against Norway to finish fifth. His team won the2009 United States Olympic Curling Trials and represented the United States at the2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. However, after Shuster missed several crucial last-rock shots in three of the United States' first four matches, U.S. coaches took the unusual step of replacing him with alternateChris Plys.[5]
After skipping the 2010 Olympic team to a last-place finish, Shuster joinedCraig Brown as histhird. For the2010–11 season, Shuster formed his own team again, this time withZach Jacobson,Jared Zezel, andJohn Landsteiner. He then replaced Jacobson with longtime teammateJeff Isaacson at third in the2012–13 season. Shuster won his secondWorld Curling Tour event as skip at the2012 St. Paul Cash Spiel, defeatingTodd Birr in the final.
After back-to-back bronze medal finishes at the2012 and2013 United States Men's Curling Championships, Shuster and his team were selected to participate at the2013 United States Olympic Curling Trials by theUnited States Curling Association's High Performance Program committee.[6] Shuster and his team finished first in the round-robin, and playedPete Fenson in the three-game final round, winning after the third game. Thus, Shuster's team represented the United States at thequalifying event for the Olympics and succeeded in securing the final spot at the Olympics for the United States. He again represented the United States at theWinter Olympics in Sochi, marking his third consecutive appearance at the Olympics. However, Shuster's team again got off to a slow start and was unable to recover, finishing in ninth place with a 2–7 win–loss record.
Following the U.S. team's Olympic struggles, theUnited 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. Shuster and teammate Landsteiner 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 rejectMatt Hamilton at second, andTyler George at third, who had not attended the combine due to his work.[7] They maintained this line-up for four seasons and found great success. They defeated both HPP teams to win the gold medal at the National Championships in2015.[8] Representing the United States at the2015 World Championship inHalifax, Nova Scotia, Team Shuster missed out on the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker to Finland'sAku Kauste. As a result of its success, Team Shuster was added to the High Performance Program for 2016.[7]
Shuster came up just short of defending his national title in2016, losing toBrady Clark in the final. Despite finishing in second, Team Shuster earned enough points throughout the season to secure their return trip to theWorld Championship.[9] InBasel, Switzerland, they defeated Japan'sYusuke Morozumi in the bronze medal match, earning the first World Men's medal for the United States since 2007.[10][11] For the2016–17 season they addedJoe Polo, a former teammate of Shuster and George, as alternate and won the2017 National Championship. At the2017 World Championship, their third Worlds in a row, they lost in the bronze medal game against Team Switzerland, skipped byPeter de Cruz.[12]
At the2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials, Shuster and his team beatHeath McCormick's team in a best-of-three final series, setting up Shuster's fourth straight Olympics appearance.[7] In the2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the U.S. 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 then among the top four teams. Nevertheless, the U.S. team won all three matches to finish theround-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 versusNiklas Edin's team representing Sweden. The gold-medal game was close through sevenends, with the score tied 5–5, but the United States scored five in the eighth end to set up a 10–7 victory.[7][13][14] This was the first Olympic gold medal in curling for the United States.
Tyler George left the team after the 2017–18 season and was replaced byChris Plys. The team represented the United States at thesecond leg of the 2018–19 Curling World Cup inOmaha, Nebraska, where they beat Niklas Edin in the final in a re-match of the Olympic gold medal match. The team won the2019 United States Men's Curling Championship and represented the United States at the2019 World Men's Curling Championship, where they were knocked out in the quarterfinals. Shuster's team was also chosen to represent the United States for the final leg of the Curling World Cup, called theGrand Final, in Beijing. They finished in 6th place.
Shuster defended his United States title at the2020 United States Men's Championship, defeatingRich Ruohonen in the final to finish the tournament undefeated.[15] The national title would have earned Team Shuster a spot at the finalGrand Slam of the season, theChampions Cup,[16] as well as the chance to represent the United States at the2020 World Men's Curling Championship, but both events were cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[17]
Shuster was the skip for the United States team at the2021 World Men's Curling Championship, which was played in a fan-less bubble inCalgary due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There, he led his U.S. rink to a 10–3 round robin record, in third place.[18] 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 byPeter de Cruz, beat the Americans to advance to the semifinals.[19]
Shuster competes inmixed doubles curling withCory Christensen. The pair finished in second place at the2017 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials and earned a national championship in2019.[20] At the2019 World Championship Shuster and Christensen finished the round robin tied for first in their group with a record of 6–1.[21] They later lost to Canada in the semifinals but defeated the Australian team ofDean Hewitt andTahli Gill for the bronze medal.[22]
Shuster competed forTeam USA in themen's curling tournament at the2022 Winter Olympics inBeijing.[23] He served as one of the Americanflag bearers at the opening ceremony.[24]
Shuster is married to Sara Shuster and has two children. He was employed as a "Team USA Sales Associate" for Dick's Sporting Goods,[25] and now works as a public speaker.[26] He lives inSuperior, Wisconsin.[27]
In November 2022, Shuster became co-owner ofDuluth FC in theNational Premier Soccer League.[28]
| Key | |
|---|---|
| C | Champion |
| F | Lost in Final |
| SF | Lost in Semifinal |
| QF | Lost in Quarterfinals |
| R16 | Lost in the round of 16 |
| Q | Did not advance to playoffs |
| T2 | Played in Tier 2 event |
| DNP | Did not participate in event |
| N/A | Not a Grand Slam event that season |
| Event | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2009–10 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters | Q | DNP | DNP | Q | DNP | DNP | Q | Q | QF | Q | N/A | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T2 |
| Tour Challenge | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | SF | Q | QF | QF | QF | N/A | N/A | T2 | Q | Q | DNP |
| The National | DNP | DNP | Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | DNP | DNP | DNP | N/A | DNP | DNP | Q | QF | |
| Canadian Open | DNP | DNP | Q | Q | DNP | Q | QF | Q | DNP | DNP | N/A | N/A | DNP | DNP | Q | |
| Players' | DNP | QF | QF | DNP | DNP | Q | DNP | Q | DNP | N/A | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | |
| Champions Cup | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Q | Q | DNP | DNP | N/A | DNP | DNP | Q | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Elite 10 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNP | DNP | DNP | Q | DNP | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | John Shuster | Jeremiah Dotlich | Jeff Thune | Jesse Gates | 2002USJCC |
| 2002–03 | Pete Fenson | Eric Fenson | Shawn Rojeski | John Shuster | 2003USMCC 2003 WMCC (8th) |
| 2003–04 | Pete Fenson | Eric Fenson | Shawn Rojeski | John Shuster | 2004USMCC |
| John Shuster | Jason Smith | Kevin Johnson | Shane McKinlay | 2004USJCC[29] | |
| 2004–05 | Pete Fenson | Shawn Rojeski | Joe Polo | John Shuster | 2005 USMCC/USOCT 2005 WMCC (6th) |
| 2005–06 | Pete Fenson | Shawn Rojeski | Joe Polo | John Shuster | 2006USMCC 2006 OG  2006 WMCC (4th) |
| 2006–07 | Pete Fenson | Shawn Rojeski | Joe Polo | John Shuster | |
| John Shuster | Jeff Isaacson | Chris Plys | Shane McKinlay | 2007 WUG | |
| 2007–08 | John Shuster | Jeff Isaacson | Chris Plys | Shane McKinlay | 2008 USMCC (6th)[30] |
| 2008–09 | John Shuster | Jason Smith | Jeff Isaacson | John Benton | 2009 USMCC/USOCT 2009 WMCC (5th) |
| 2009–10 | John Shuster | Jason Smith | Jeff Isaacson | John Benton | 2010 OG (10th) |
| 2010–11 | Craig Brown | John Shuster | Greg Johnson | Derrick Casper | 2011 USMCC (6th) |
| 2011–12 | John Shuster | Zach Jacobson | Jared Zezel | John Landsteiner | 2012 USMCC |
| 2012–13 | John Shuster | Jeff Isaacson | Jared Zezel | John Landsteiner | 2013 USMCC |
| 2013–14 | John Shuster | Jeff Isaacson | Jared Zezel | John Landsteiner | 2013 USOCT 2014 USMCC (5th) 2014 OG (9th) |
| 2014–15 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2015 USMCC 2015 WMCC (5th) |
| 2015–16 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2016 USMCC 2016 WMCC |
| 2016–17 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2017 USMCC 2017 WMCC (4th) |
| 2017–18 | John Shuster | Tyler George | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2017 USOCT 2018 OG |
| 2018–19 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | CWC/2 2019 USMCC 2019 WMCC (5th) CWC/GF (6th) |
| 2019–20 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2020 USMCC |
| 2020–21[31] | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2021 WMCC (5th) |
| 2021–22 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2021 USOCT 2022 OG (4th) |
| 2022–23 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Matt Hamilton | John Landsteiner | 2023 USMCC 2023 WMCC (8th) |
| 2023–24 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Colin Hufman | Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner | 2024 USMCC 2024 WMCC (6th) |
| 2024–25 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Colin Hufman | Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner | 2024 PCCC 2025 USMCC |
| 2025–26 | John Shuster | Chris Plys | Colin Hufman | Matt Hamilton |
| Season | Female | Male | Events |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Cory Christensen | John Shuster | |
| 2016–17 | Cory Christensen | John Shuster | 2017 USMDOT 2017 USMDCC (TB) |
| 2018–19 | Cory Christensen | John Shuster | 2019 USMDCC 2019 WMDCC |
| 2019–20 | Cory Christensen | John Shuster | 2020 USMDCC |
| 2020–21[32] | Cory Christensen | John Shuster | |
| 2021–22 | Cory Christensen | John Shuster | 2021 USMDOT (6th) |
| 2022–23 | Aileen Geving | John Shuster | 2023 USMDCC (5th) |
| 2023–24 | Aileen Geving | John Shuster | 2024 USMDCC |
| 2024–25 | Aileen Geving | John Shuster | 2025 USMDOT (8th) |
| Demonstration events | |
|---|---|
| Official events |
|
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