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| Pål Trulsen | |
|---|---|
| ♂ | |
 Trulsen as coach of Team Norway at the2010 Winter Olympics | |
| Born | 19 April 1962 (1962-04-19) (age 63) Drøbak,Norway |
Curling career | |
| World Championship appearances | 9 (1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005) |
| European Championship appearances | 6 (1981, 1982, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005) |
| Olympic appearances | 3 (1992, 2002, 2006) |
Pål Trulsen (born 19 April 1962 inDrøbak,Norway) is aNorwegiancurler fromHosle inBærum, and was the 2002 Olympiccurling men's champion.[1]
Trulsen participated in both the1980 and1981World Junior Championships, finishing both tournaments with 2-7 and 4-5 records respectively. However, after participating in the1981 and1982European championships, he was back at the juniors in1983 where he won the silver medal, losing toCanada'sJohn Base in the final. It took Trulsen 9 more years to get back on the world stage, at the1992 Winter Olympics, where curling was a demonstration sport. At this event he won a silver medal, losing toSwitzerland'sUrs Dick in the final. After fourWorld Championship tournaments in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2000 in which he did not receive any medals, Trulsen won the bronze at the2001 Ford World Curling Championship, defeating one of the games great teams ofRandy Ferbey (David Nedohin throwing 4th stones), in the bronze medal game. A year later, Trulsen became world-famous as he won the gold medal at the Olympics defeating Canada'sKevin Martin in the final. After reaching the top, Trulsen would later decline, winning silver at the2002 Ford World Curling Championship, bronze at the2003 Ford World Curling Championship and a fourth-place finish at the2004 Ford World Curling Championship where he missed a fairly standard final draw against European arch rival and eventual winner Peja Lindholm in the semi-finals.
Trulsen finished in fourth place once again at the2005 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, losing to Canada'sRandy Ferbey in a 3–4 game, in a wild tournament where 6 teams entered the playoffs all but tied for 1st with exactly the same record at 8-3 leading to numerous tiebreakers and playoff games to sort out. Trulsen himself would require a tiebreak win overPete Fenson of the U.S to advance to the playoffs, and in losing to eventual winner Ferbey would miss a pretty easy final shot for victory, and shoot only 75% for the game vs 4th rock throw David Nedohin's 91%. Trulsen would finally win another tournament, when he won the 2005 European Championships againstPeja Lindholm ofSweden, setting him up as a favorite to defend his Olympic title. However, he failed to advance from the preliminaries in the2006 Winter Olympics after a combination of variable play and bad luck. A large part of his inability to add to his Olympic Gold in 2002 with another World or Olympic win was increasing knee problems from 2002 onwards.
Prior to the2006 Winter Olympics, it was reported that Trulsen was considering retiring from curling, largely to his growing knee pain.[2]He finally did retire in January 2007. While remembered for his easy going and fun personality, he was also remembered as being an extremely fierce and hungry competitor in the heat of battle.
Trulsen coached the Norwegian Olympic curling team at the2010 Winter Olympics inVancouver, Canada.[3] They made it to the final, this time Kevin Martin's Canadian team beating them for the gold.
Trulsen has been the Coach of the European Continental Cup Team the past 2 years (2016 and 2017).
In 2024, he was inducted into theWorld Curling Hall of Fame.[4]
| Demonstration events | |
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| Official events |
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