Sterling Middleton (born December 8, 1998) is a Canadian curler, originally from Fort St. John, British Columbia.[2] He currently plays second on Team Evan van Amsterdam. He is a two-time World Junior champion, three-time Canadian Junior Champion, and Youth Olympic gold medallist.
Career
Juniors
Growing up in the Peace Region of British Columbia meant that Middleton was eligible to curl competitively out of B.C. and Alberta. Middleton curled for the Falher, Alberta based Dustin Turcotte rink for two seasons from 2013 to 2015. After seeing him at the 2013 B.C. High School Championship, Middleton was picked up to also play for the Tyler Tardi rink in 2014.[3] The team went on to win the BC qualifier for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.[4] At the 2015 Canada Games, the team picked up a bronze medal.[1]
Middleton was chosen to be play lead on the Canadian team at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, along with skip Mary Fay, Tardi and Karlee Burgess. The team steam-rolled through the opposition, winning all 10 of their games before claiming a gold medal for their country.[1] In the mixed doubles event, Middleton was teamed up with New Zealand's Holly Thompson. The pair made it to the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual gold medallists of Yako Matsuzawa of Japan and Philipp Hösli of Switzerland.
Middleton fully joined the Tardi junior men's rink in 2016, playing third on the rink. The team won the provincial junior title in 2017. Representing British Columbia at the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team lost one round robin game en route to winning the national championship, defeating Ontario's Matthew Hall rink in the final. The team represented Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships, where they finished the round robin with a 6–3 record, but lost to Norway in a tiebreaker game. That year, Tardi and Middleton also represented British Columbia at the 2017 Canadian U18 Curling Championships,[1] losing just one round robin game. However, they were not successful in the playoffs, losing in the semifinal, but rebounded in the bronze medal game, defeating Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter.
In 2018, the Tardi rink won another provincial junior title. At the 2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team would defend their title. After losing three round robin games, the team had to fight through a tiebreaker before winning two playoff games, including defeating Northern Ontario's Tanner Horgan rink in the final. The team represented Canada at the 2018 World Junior Curling Championships, where they were much more successful. The team lost two round robin games, and won both playoff games, including defeating Scotland in the final to claim the gold medal.
In 2019, Team Tardi won yet another provincial junior title. At the 2019 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team won their third-straight national championship.[5] The team lost just one game en route to the title, and defeated Manitoba's J.T. Ryan in the final. The team once again represented Canada at the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships. After posting a 7–2 round robin record, they won both playoff games, including defeating Switzerland's Marco Hösli rink in the final.
The 2019-20 curling season would have been the team's last year of junior eligibility, but they decided to make the jump to men's curling full-time, eschewing the junior ranks.[6]
