John Landsteiner, the longtime lead for skip John Shuster and 2018 Olympic gold medallist, is stepping away from competitive curling.
The 35-year-old from Duluth, Minn., made the announcement Wednesday in a Facebook post.
Landsteiner cited his full-time career as an engineer and his wish to spend more time with his family as reasons for leaving the team.
“To be clear, this is not a goodbye to the sport of curling for me,” he wrote in the post. “I will continue to participate in my usual leagues and will likely hit up some regional bonspiels with old pals, and most importantly, teach and watch my children grow up with the game. Heck, maybe they’ll even let me coach them.”
Landsteiner joined Team Shuster in 2011 and won six national championships, but it was the club’s incredible run to the top of the podium at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang that took the sporting world by storm.
Shuster, Landsteiner, second Matt Hamilton and third Tyler George started the tournament with a 2-4 record but won five consecutive games, including a 10-7 victory over Niklas Edin’s Swedish squad to capture gold. It was the first gold medal in curling for the U.S. and was dubbed the “Miracurl on Ice.”
Landsteiner also represented the U.S. with Team Shuster at the Olympics in 2014, finishing ninth, and in 2022, finishing fourth.
He earned bronze medals at the 2016 World Men’s Curling Championship and 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships.
The U.S. will hold its men’s and women’s Olympic trials in November. The winners will have to compete in the Olympic Qualification Event — Dec. 6-13 in Kelowna, B.C. — to secure a spot for the Winter Games in Milan-Cortina.
