Becca Hamilton
Rebecca Lynn Hamilton (born July 12, 1990) is an American curler from McFarland, Wisconsin. 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. During these 2022 Beijing Olympics, she is again on the women's curling team. Background. 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. The team would lose in their first playoff  game however against Patti Lank. Hamilton's trip to the 2012 United States Women's Curling Championship would be less successful, however. 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 next 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 were 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. 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. They also earned a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup, which was also cancelled due to the pandemic. Their qualification will instead carry over to the 2021 Champions Cup. 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. 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, which they earned a spot at 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. 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. 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. As of 2021, she is a student. She attended Edgewood College.