Kevin MARTIN

Kevin Martin has been skipping winning curling rinks since he was victorious at the Canadian Junior Championships in 1985, which qualified him to represent his country at the 1986 Junior World Championships, where in turn he won a silver medal. He resurfaced five years later and earned another silver medal at the 1991 World Championships with an altered lineup that included future Olympic teammate Don Bartlett as lead. At the 1992 Winter Olympics, where curling was a demonstration sport, Team Kevin Martin represented Canada and placed fourth. Don Walchuk joined the squad in 1995 as third and soon helped them win a trip to the 1997 World Championships, where they placed fourth. Undeterred, they carried their momentum into the 1997 Canadian Curling Trials and finished as runner up behind Mike Harris. Martin’s team then had an unsuccessful season prior to the addition of Carter Rycroft as second 1999. The foursome had a 7-2 record at the 2001 Olympic Trials and earned themselves the right to represent Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympic curling tournament, where they finished with a silver medal as runners up to the Norwegian team.

The foursome continued to curl together for several years but, a year after a losing record at the 2005 Olympic Trials, Martin scrapped his team and rebuilt it to great success. This new rink won the 2008 World Championships and fell to second at the 2009 edition in a close final match. Their next stop was the 2009 Olympic trials and they survived to a final showdown against Team Glenn Howard that included, among others, former 1998 Olympian Richard Hart. In the end, Team Martin won the match and was selected to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics. There, alongside lead Ben Hebert, second Marc Kennedy, and third John Morris, Martin became the first skip to go through an entire Olympic tournament without losing a single match, capturing the gold medal in another final against Norway. When not playing or training he runs The Kevin Martin Curling Academy and Kevin’s Curling Supplies in Edmonton, Alberta. As of 2009 he was won the Alberta provincial championships, now known as the Boston Pizza Cup, on 10 occasions, from 1991-1992, from 1995-1997, in 2000, and from 2006-2009.