Thomas Ulsrud

Thomas Ulsrud
Curler
Born (1971-10-21) 21 October 1971
Oslo, Norway
Team
Curling club Snarøen CC,
Oslo, NOR
Skip Thomas Ulsrud
Third Torger Nergård
Second Christoffer Svae
Lead Håvard Vad Petersson
Alternate Sander Rølvåg
Career
World Championship
appearances
12 (1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
European Championship
appearances
15 (1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Olympic
appearances
2 (2010, 2014)

Thomas Ulsrud (born October 21, 1971) is a Norwegian curler[1][2][3] from Oslo. He is the skip of the current World champion Norwegian national team and his is also a two-time European champion and former Olympic silver medalist. Ulsrud is also the current holder of the record for most wins by a skip at the World Men's Curling Championship.

Career

Ulsrud calling line at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Ulsrud has curled since 1983.[2] In his second World Junior Curling Championship in 1988, Ulsrud skipped Norway to a bronze medal.

In 1997, he skipped in his first European Curling Championships, finishing in seventh place. Team Ulsrud competed again in 2000–2003, 2006–2009, winning bronze in 2002, silver in 2007, and bronze in 2009.[4]

In his first World Curling Championship in 1998, Ulsrud skipped Norway to fifth place. After serving as the alternate for Pål Trulsen's team in 1999, he returned again as skip in 2006–2009, making the playoffs for the first time in 2006 and then defeated USA's Team Pete Fenson to win the bronze medal. Two more bronze medals followed in 2008 and 2009.[5]

Between 2007 and 2010, Team Ulsrud won six World Curling Tour events, namely, the 2007 & 2009 Lucerne Curling Trophies, 2008 Baden Masters, 2008 Radisson SAS Oslo Cup, 2009 Swiss Cup Basel, and 2009 Bern Open.[3]

At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Team Ulsrud attracted worldwide attention, not only for introducing Loudmouth Golf's colourful harlequin pants to the arena,[6] but also for winning the silver medal after the final game against Canada's Team Kevin Martin.[7]

Immediately at the start of the 2010 World Curling Championship in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Ulsrud had to return home for family reasons. With Torger Nergård acting as skip, Ulsrud's teammates took first place at the end of round-robin games (10–1 score) and won the silver medal.[8]

Team Ulsrud began the 2010-11 curling season by winning their first European Curling Championship gold medal in Champéry, Switzerland.[9] The team topped the season off by finishing fourth at the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.

The rink won a second straight European Championships by winning the gold medal at the 2011 European Curling Championships. Later that season they would once again finish 4th at the 2012 World Men's Curling Championship. That season, the team won one WCT event, the 2012 European Masters.

The Ulsrud rink would continue their domination at the European championship by winning the silver medal at both the 2012 and 2013 events. They were less successful at the 2013 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, finishing in 5th place. The rink represented Norway once again at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where they finished 5th, with a 5-5 record. They lost in a tie-breaker match to Great Britain, skipped by David Murdoch. On the World Curling Tour, the team won one event in 2013-14, the 2013 Swiss Cup Basel. The team capped off their season by winning a gold medal at the 2014 World Men's Curling Championship.

The World champion Ulsrud rink began the 2014–15 curling season by winning the first WCT event of the year, the 2014 Baden Masters.

Personal life

Ulsrud is married to Elin Grødal, and they have one son. He is employed as a manager.[10]

Teams

Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Events
1984–85 Bjørn Ulshagen Bjarte Nilsen Terje Strand Thomas Ulsrud 1985 WJCC
1987–88 Thomas Ulsrud Thomas Due Krister Aanesen Mads Rygg 1988 WJCC
1988–89 Thomas Ulsrud Bent Ånund Ramsfjell Krister Aanesen Mads Rygg 1989 WJCC
1991–92 Thomas Due Torger Nergård Mads Rygg Johan Høstmælingen Thomas Ulsrud 1992 WJCC
1997–98Thomas Ulsrud Johan Høstmælingen Thomas DueTorger Nergård Rolf Andreas Lauten 1997 ECC
2000–01Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Thomas Due Johan Høstmælingen Flemming Davanger 2000 ECC
2002–03Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Thomas Due Johan Høstmælingen Thomas Løvold 2002 ECC
2003–04Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Thomas Due Jan Thoresen Thomas Løvold 2003 ECC
2005–06 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Thomas Due Jan Thoresen Christoffer Svae 2006 WCC
2006–07 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Thomas Due Jan Thoresen Christoffer Svae
Petter Moe
Thomas Løvold
2006 ECC, 2007 WCC
2007–08 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Thomas Due 2007 ECC, 2008 WCC
2008–09 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Thomas Due
Thomas Løvold
2008 ECC, 2009 WCC
2009–10 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Thomas Løvold 2009 ECC, 2010 OG
2010–11 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Markus Høiberg 2010 ECC, 2011 WCC
2011–12 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Markus Høiberg 2011 ECC, 2012 WCC
2012–13 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Thomas Løvold
Markus Høiberg
2012 ECC, 2013 WCC
2013–14 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson Markus Høiberg 2013 ECC, 2014 OG, 2014 WCC
2014–15 Thomas Ulsrud Torger Nergård Christoffer Svae Håvard Vad Petersson

Grand Slam record

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 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17
The Masters DNP DNP Q SF Q Q Q Q Q Q DNP
Tour Challenge N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A DNP SF
The National Q DNP DNP DNP DNP QF Q DNP DNP QF
Canadian Open Q DNP QF SF Q DNP DNP Q DNP DNP
Players' Championships DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP QF DNP DNP DNP

References

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