Rebecca Hamilton
Curler
Born (1990-07-12) July 12, 1990 (age 33)
Madison, Wisconsin[1]
Team
Curling clubMadison CC,
Madison, Wisconsin
SkipTabitha Peterson
ThirdCory Thiesse
SecondTara Peterson
LeadBecca Hamilton
AlternateVicky Persinger
Mixed doubles
partner		Matt Hamilton
Curling career
Member Association United States
World Championship
appearances		5 (2015, 2017, 2021, 2023, 2024)
World Mixed Doubles Championship
appearances		2 (2017, 2022)
Pan Continental Championship
appearances		2 (2022, 2023)
Olympic
appearances		2 (2018, 2022)
Medal record
Representing  United States
Women's Curling
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Calgary
Pan Continental Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Kelowna
United States Women's Championship
Gold medal – first place 2010 Kalamazoo
Gold medal – first place 2014 Philadelphia
Gold medal – first place 2020 Cheney
Gold medal – first place 2023 Denver
Gold medal – first place 2024 East Rutherford
Silver medal – second place 2017 Everett
Silver medal – second place 2019 Kalamazoo
United States Olympic Trials
Gold medal – first place 2017 Omaha
Gold medal – first place 2021 Omaha
Mixed doubles curling
United States Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials
Gold medal – first place 2017 Blaine
United States Mixed Doubles Championship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Blaine
Gold medal – first place 2022 Middleton
Gold medal – first place 2024 Traverse City

Rebecca Lynn Hamilton (born July 12, 1990) is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. She currently plays lead on Team Tabitha Peterson. She is a two-time national women's champion, a two-time national junior champion, and a two-time Olympian. At the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, she competed in mixed doubles curling with her brother, Matt, along with playing with the women's curling team. She was again on the women's curling team during the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Career

Hamilton's junior career involved participating in five straight national junior championships from 2008 to 2012. She won the event in both 2008 and 2011. In 2008, Hamilton played third for the Nina Spatola junior team, which finished with a 1–6 (8th) record at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships. In 2011, Hamilton skipped the team of Tara Peterson, Karlie Koenig and Sophie Brorson to a 5–5 (5th) record at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships.

Hamilton has also played in eight national championships. At the 2010 United States Women's Curling Championship, Hamilton skipped a team of Koenig, Jenna Haag, and Grace Gabower to a 7–2 round robin finish in a four-way tie for first. However, the team would lose in their first playoff game against Patti Lank. However, Hamilton's trip to the 2012 United States Women's Curling Championship would be less successful. She skipped a team of Peterson, Koenig, and Brorson to a 4–5 record and missed the playoffs. At the 2013 United States Women's Curling Championship, Hamilton led her rink of Molly Bonner, Peterson, and Brorson to a 3–6 finish, again missing the playoffs.

In 2013, she joined up with her junior skip, Nina Spatola, throwing third stones for the team. The team won the 2014 United States Women's Curling Championship. The following season, Hamilton was moved to second on the team. The team had less success at the 2015 United States Women's Curling Championship, finishing with a 4–5 record.

In 2015, Hamilton joined the Jamie Sinclair rink as her second. At the 2016 United States Women's Curling Championship, they would finish in fourth place. She would only play with Sinclair for one season before returning to the Spatola (now Roth) rink, throwing lead rocks. The team was runners-up at the 2017 US Championships but represented the United States at the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship, finishing in sixth place.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Hamilton placed sixth in the mixed doubles competition and eighth in the team competition.

At the 2020 United States Women's Championship, Hamilton earned her second national title, as third for Tabitha Peterson. In the round robin, Team Peterson's only loss came against Jamie Sinclair, but they then beat Team Sinclair in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game and again in the final.[2] As United States Champions Team Peterson would have represented the United States at the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship, but they lost that opportunity when the Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] They also earned a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup,[4] which was also cancelled due to the pandemic. Their qualification will instead carry over to the 2021 Champions Cup.[5]

During the 2020 off-season, the team announced that Tabitha Peterson would remain as skip when Roth returned from maternity leave. Roth re-joined the team as vice-skip at third, with Hamilton moving to second, Tara Peterson to lead, and Geving to alternate.[6] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peterson team did not compete in events for most of the 2020–21 season until entering a bio-secure bubble held in Calgary, Alberta in the spring of 2021 for three events in a row. The first two events were the Champions Cup and Players' Championship grand slams, with the team missing the playoffs at both. The third event in the Calgary bubble for Team Peterson was the 2021 World Women's Championship, in which they earned a spot as 2020 National Champions after the 2021 National Championship was moved to later in the spring due to the pandemic. They finished the 13-game round-robin in fifth place with a 7–6 record, earning them a spot in the playoffs and securing a 2022 Olympic berth for the United States. In the playoffs, Team Peterson defeated Denmark's Madeline Dupont but lost to Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni to end up in the bronze medal game. There, Peterson faced off against Sweden's Anna Hasselborg and won with a score of 9–5, including scoring five points in the seventh end.[7][8] Team Peterson's bronze medal finish was the first World Women's medal for the United States in 15 years, and the first-ever bronze medal.

The Peterson rink won their first two events of the 2021–22 season, the US Open of Curling and the 2021 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic.[9] The following week, they played in the 2021 Masters where they made it as far as the quarterfinals. The team then played in the 2021 United States Olympic Curling Trials, where they attempted to return to the Olympics. Through the round robin, the team posted a 9–1 record, putting them into the best-of-three final against Cory Christensen. The Peterson rink beat Christensen in two-straight games, booking their tickets to the 2022 Winter Olympics.[10] After the Trials, the team played in one event before the Olympics, the Curl Mesabi Classic, which they won, beating Christensen again in the final.[11] At the Olympics, the team finished the round robin with a 4–5 record, missing the playoffs.[12] The team finished off the season by playing in two Slams, the 2022 Players' Championship and the 2022 Champions Cup, missing the playoffs in both events. In mixed doubles that season, she and her brother Matt Hamilton played in the 2021 United States mixed doubles curling Olympic trials, where they posted a 5–4 round robin record. This put them in a tiebreaker, which they lost, eliminating them from contention. The pair later competed in the 2022 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, where they went undefeated to secure the national title.[13] At the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, they finished fourth in their pool with a 5–4 record, not enough to advance to the playoff round.[14]

Following the 2021–22 season, Nina Roth retired from competitive curling and the team added Cory Thiesse (née Christensen) as their new third.[15] After a semifinal finish at the US Open of Curling, the team missed the playoffs at both the 2022 National and the 2022 Tour Challenge Slam events.[16] They represented the United States at the 2022 Pan Continental Curling Championships where they finished first in the round robin with a 7–1 record.[17] They then lost to South Korea and Canada in the semifinal and bronze medal game respectively, finishing fourth.[18] In their next event, Team Peterson reached the semifinals of the Red Deer Curling Classic where they lost to Rachel Homan.[19] At the 2022 Masters, the team made it to the semifinals before losing to the Einarson rink.[20] The following week, they won the Curl Mesabi Classic.[21] In the new year, the team went undefeated to claim the 2023 United States Women's Curling Championship, defeating Delaney Strouse 8–5 in the final.[22] This qualified them for the 2023 World Women's Curling Championship where they finished just outside the playoffs with a 6–6 record.[23] The team ended their season at the 2023 Players' Championship and the 2023 Champions Cup Grand Slam events where they reached the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.[24] In mixed doubles play, the Hamilton siblings lost in the quarterfinals of the 2023 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.[25]

Personal life

Her brother Matt Hamilton is also a successful curler, having played on the 2018 United States Olympic men's team. Matt and Becca also competed together in mixed doubles at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[26] She attended Edgewood College.[27]

Teams

Women's

Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Coach Events
2007–08 Nina Spatola Becca Hamilton Jenna Haag Anna Plys Karlie Koenig (WJCC) Neil Doese (WJCC) 2008 USJCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2008 WJCC (8th)[28]
2008–09[29] Nina Spatola Molly Bonner Becca Hamilton Anna Plys
2009–10 Becca Hamilton Karlie Koenig Jenna Haag Grace Grabower 2010 USJCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)[30]
2010 USWCC (4th)[31]
2010–11 Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Karlie Koenig Sophie Brorson Rebecca Funk (WJCC) Neil Doese (WJCC) 2011 USJCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2011 WJCC (5th)[32]
2011–12 Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Karlie Koenig Sophie Brorson 2012 USJCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2012 USWCC (7th)
2012–13 Becca Hamilton Molly Bonner Tara Peterson Sophie Brorson 2013 USWCC (8th)
2013–14 Nina Spatola Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Sophie Brorson 2014 USWCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2014–15 Nina Roth Jamie Sinclair Becca Hamilton Tabitha Peterson 2015 USWCC (5th)
Aileen Sormunen Monica Walker Tara Peterson Vicky Persinger Becca Hamilton Scott Baird 2015 WWCC (10th)
2015–16 Jamie Sinclair Tabitha Peterson Becca Hamilton Jenna Haag Tara Peterson 2016 USWCC (4th)
2016–17 Nina Roth Tabitha Peterson Aileen Geving Becca Hamilton Cory Christensen(WWCC) Ann Swisshelm 2017 USWCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2017 WWCC (5th)
2017–18 Nina Roth Tabitha Peterson Aileen Geving Becca Hamilton Cory Christensen(OG) Al Hackner 2017 USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018 WOG (8th)
2018 Cont. Cup
2018–19 Nina Roth Tabitha Peterson Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson 2019 USWCC 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2019–20 Tabitha Peterson Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Aileen Geving Natalie Nicholson 2020 USWCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2020–21 Tabitha Peterson Nina Roth Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Aileen Geving Laine Peters 2021 WWCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)[7]
2021–22 Tabitha Peterson Nina Roth Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Aileen Geving Laine Peters, Phill Drobnick 2021 USOCT 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2022 WOG (6th)
2022–23 Tabitha Peterson Cory Thiesse Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Vicky Persinger (PCCC/WWCC) Laine Peters 2022 PCCC (4th)
2023 USWCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2023 WWCC (7th)
2023–24 Tabitha Peterson Cory Thiesse Tara Peterson Becca Hamilton Vicky Persinger (PCCC/WWCC) Cathy Overton-Clapham 2023 PCCC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2024 USWCC 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2024 WWCC

Mixed doubles

Season Female Male Events
2015–16 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2016 US World Trials (4th)[33]
2016–17 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2017 USMDCC 1st place, gold medalist(s), 2017 WMDCC (10th)
2017–18 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2017 USMDOT 1st place, gold medalist(s), 2018 OG (6th)
2018–19 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2019 USMDCC (QF)
2019–20 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2020 USMDCC (QF)
2020–21[34] Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton
2021–22 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2021 USMDOT (5th), 2022 USMDCC 1st place, gold medalist(s), 2022 WMDCC (8th)
2022–23 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton 2023 USMDCC (QF)
2023–24 Becca Hamilton Matt Hamilton

References

  1. ^ "2020 World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  2. ^ Schneider, Angela (2020-02-15). "Tabitha Peterson takes aggressive approach to dethrone Jamie Sinclair in women's title match of USA Curling Championships". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  3. ^ "World women's curling championship cancelled". TSN. Mar 12, 2020. Retrieved Apr 27, 2020.
  4. ^ "Peterson Locks Down Playoff Spot". USA Curling. 2020-02-12. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  5. ^ "2020 Humpty's Champions Cup teams to keep spots for next season". Grand Slam of Curling. Mar 18, 2020. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved Apr 27, 2020.
  6. ^ "Team Peterson Announced". USA Curling. Apr 27, 2020. Retrieved Apr 28, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Blount, Rachel (May 9, 2021). "Minnesotans help U.S. women's curling team earn Olympics berth". Star Tribune. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  8. ^ "United States beat Sweden to win women's world curling bronze". Sportsnet. May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  9. ^ Todd Saelhof (October 11, 2021). "American Peterson hopes Autumn Gold Curling Classic win sign of things to come". Toronto Sun. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  10. ^ "Tabitha Peterson wins U.S. Olympic women's curling trials, eyes ending another drought". NBC Sports. November 21, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  11. ^ "2021 Curl Mesabi Classic". CurlingZone. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  12. ^ "U.S. Women conclude Olympics at 4–5". USA Curling. February 16, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  13. ^ "Becca and Matt Hamilton win 2022 U.S. Mixed Doubles National Championship". USA Curling. March 13, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  14. ^ "Team USA concludes World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2022 with 5–4 record". USA Curling. April 28, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  15. ^ Todd Kortemeier (March 17, 2023). "Curling teammates, sisters Tabitha and Tara Peterson back for another run at Worlds". Team USA. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  16. ^ Jonathan Brazeau (October 22, 2022). "Lawes defeats Einarson to secure HearingLife Tour Challenge playoff spot". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  17. ^ "Women's round-robins draw to a close". World Curling Federation. November 5, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  18. ^ "Japan women claim first Pan Continental title". World Curling Federation. November 7, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  19. ^ "Dunstone enters winner's circle at Red Deer Classic; Homan wins again". TSN. November 21, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  20. ^ Jonathan Brazeau (December 10, 2022). "Homan vs. Einarson, Mouat vs. Retornaz set for WFG Masters finals". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  21. ^ "2023 Curl Mesabi Classic". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  22. ^ "2023 USA Curling women's national champions crowned". USA Curling. February 11, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  23. ^ "Live Blog: Day seven at the WWCC". World Curling Federation. March 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  24. ^ Jonathan Brazeau (May 7, 2023). "Einarson faces Homan in KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup women's final". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  25. ^ "2023 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship". CurlingZone. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  26. ^ Jimmy Golen (November 19, 2017). "American curling siblings Matt and Becca Hamilton make Olympics". Denver Post. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  27. ^ "Curling – Athlete Profile: Becca HAMILTON – Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games". Olympics. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  28. ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2008". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  29. ^ "Junior Women's State Champions". Wisconsin State Curling Association. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  30. ^ Kolesar, Terry (February 3, 2010). "Minnesota women, Washington men win titles". U.S. Curling News. p. 8. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  31. ^ Patzke, Rick (May 11, 2010). "Brown leads team to women's championship". U.S. Curling News. p. 13. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  32. ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2011". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  33. ^ "USA Mixed Doubles World Trials – Round-Robin". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  34. ^ "Mixed Doubles Teams Announced". USA Curling. May 22, 2020. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2020.

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