Oskar Eriksson
Oskar Eriksson (born 29 May 1991) is a Swedish curler from Karlstad.[1] He currently plays third for the Niklas Edin rink. He is a four-time World Curling Champion, seven-time European Curling Champion, and the first curler in history to win gold medals in three major curling championships in a single calendar year – the World Men's Curling Championship, the European Curling Championship, and the World Mixed Doubles Championship. He is the only member of Team Sweden to have competed in all of the World Men's Curling Championships from 2011 to 2019. He won medals in all but one of these championships, as well as playing in multiple positions – as skip (silver, 2014), third (gold, 2015, 2018, 2019 and silver, 2017) second (bronze, 2012), and as an alternate (gold, 2013 and bronze, 2011). As of 2020, he has reached twenty-three playoffs at Grand Slam events. With the current Team Niklas Edin lineup, he has also won three Grand Slam Curling Events, as well as the Pinty's Cup, being part of the first non-Canadian men's team to do so. In 2019, Eriksson and his teammates also became the first men's team since 1971 to win back-to-back World Curling Championships.
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Career
Career beginnings
Eriksson began curling before he was six years old. He followed his older brothers Anders Eriksson and Marcus Eriksson into the sport, but his skill level advanced more rapidly.[2] He was part of a curling team at age seven,[2] debuting in Sweden's Elite Series at the age of thirteen.[3] He won his first Swedish Men's Curling Championship title in his junior career and has gone on to win six more championship titles since then.[4]. As a junior, Eriksson also competed at three World Junior Curling Championships, winning both a gold medal and a silver medal. At those three World Junior Championships, Eriksson skipped two different Swedish teams, winning a total of 24 games and losing only 9.
Eriksson made his first run for a junior world championship title when he was sixteen at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships, skipping his first team to a silver medal. The team, consisting of Henric Jonsson, Markus Franzén, and Nils Karlsson, lost in the final to the US team skipped by Chris Plys. In 2008, Eriksson moved to Härnosand to join other promising curlers at Härnosands gymnasium.[5] He also joined Team Lit/Lindström, formed by brothers Kristian Lindström and Alexander Lindström along with Christoffer Sundgren and Henrik Leek. The team had immediate success on the junior tour and also scored wins in the senior division.[5][6] With this team, Eriksson made his second run for the gold medal at the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships, but reached only a fourth-place finish, losing in the bronze-medal game to the US team that was again skipped by Plys. Though the team did not qualify to compete at the championships in 2010,[7] Eriksson and his teammates finally won a gold medal at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships, defeating Team Switzerland, skipped by Peter de Cruz, by a score of 6–5 in the final.
By 2012, Eriksson's Lit teammates were no longer eligible for junior competition, but Eriksson was still eligible for junior championships. He skipped Team CK Granit-Gävle, consisting of Ludwig Grann, Erik Ölund, and Magnus Rudström, at the 2012 Swedish Junior Curling Championships with the aim of qualifying for the World Junior Curling Championship. Eriksson's team was undefeated until the finals, but there they came in second place to the team from Sundyberg skipped by his future teammate Rasmus Wranå,[8] whose team won silver at the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships.
Seniors I (2008–2014): Team Lindström/Eriksson and Team Edin
Shortly after joining Team Lit in 2008, Eriksson played simultaneously with two teams. His official team during this period was Team Lit, alternatively known as Team Lindström and eventually Team Eriksson. Eriksson skipped the team for most of this period through 2014.[9][10] In the 2008-09 season, he fulfilled a commitment to his former team to compete in the Elite Series, having qualified for it with them,[11] but played for Team Lit in Division 1 of the series the same year.[12] He continued competing with a second team, however, from 2009 through February 2014, as he was selected as the alternate for Team Niklas Edin with Niklas Edin, Sebastian Kraupp, Fredrik Lindberg, and Viktor Kjäll in all of their international championship appearances. As part of Team Edin, he competed in three World Curling Championships (2011-2013), five European Curling Championships (2009-2013), and the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Games. During this period, however, Team Lit became more competitive with Team Edin and was well recognized as one of the top two men's curling teams in Sweden.[13]
As an alternate for Team Edin during this period, Eriksson received numerous international medals, including two gold medals at the European Curling Championships (2009 and 2012) and three World Curling Championship medals, including his first World Championship gold medal (2013) and two bronze medals (2011 and 2012). At the 2012 World Men's Curling Championship, however, he notably played in the second position for all games except three because Niklas Edin, the permanent skip, was suffering from a herniated disc in his back. Eriksson also played this position in the playoffs, in which Team Sweden won its second World Curling Championship bronze medal. He also made his first Olympic appearances with Team Edin, coming in fourth in the 2010 Winter Olympics and receiving a bronze medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
With Team Lit, however, Eriksson and his teammates won several international events, including the Oslo Cup (2009), Swiss Cup Basel (2012), and European Masters (2013), as well as the Winter Universiade (2013).[10] In the 2013-14 season, Team Eriksson reached second place at the Swiss Cup Basel, Mercure Perth Masters, and Sweden's Elite Series and competed in Canada on the World Curling Tour, coming in fifth place in three events and reaching their first Grand Slam Quarterfinal at the National. Winning the Swedish Men's Curling Championships that year as well, the team was selected to represent Sweden in the 2014 World Men's Curling Championship, as Team Edin had represented Sweden in the European Curling Championships. Team Eriksson reached the final and won the silver medal in their World Curling Championship debut.
Seniors II (2014–present): Team Edin
In May 2014, Edin and Team Eriksson came to an agreement to form a new Team Edin, with Edin skipping the team in the fourth position and Oskar Eriksson playing third along with Kristian Lindström playing second and Christoffer Sundgren in the lead position.[14] When Lindström underwent surgery in 2016, Rasmus Wranå took over as second. From the start, however, the new Team Edin team immediately saw their increased potential and aimed to become the number one team in the world.[14] Indeed, Team Edin was ranked first at the end of the 2016–17 curling season on both lists and finished in first place on the prize money list in the 2017-18 curling season. The team also reached the finals of the European Curling Championships every year since forming a new team, winning gold in all years but one (2014-2017 and 2019) and winning silver once (2018). The team also secured medals in the finals of the World Curling Championships every year except 2016, winning three gold (2015, 2018 and 2019) and one silver (2017).
As part of Team Edin, Eriksson and his teammates have been consistently ranked in the top ten teams in the world since they joined forces, due to their performance in Canada and around the world. The team has reached the playoffs in 20 Grand Slam of Curling Events. In the 2016-17 season, Team Edin had their most successful year on tour, winning three Slams (the Masters, the Tour Challenge, and the Players’ Championship) and reaching the finals (the Canadian Open) and semifinals (the National and Champions Cup) of all but one of the slams, securing the Pinty’s Cup, the first non-Canadian men's team to do so. The Team has also won several other World Curling Tour events, including the European Masters (2014), Swiss Cup Basel (2016, 2018), Baden Masters (2015, 2017), Curling Masters Champery (2016, 2017), and Perth Masters (2018).[10] Team Edin has also won the Swedish Men's Curling Championships six times between 2014 and 2020, skipping only the 2017 championships to prepare for the World Championships.
Career achievements
Currently, Eriksson is the only Swedish curler to have taken part in nine consecutive World Curling Championships in the men's division (2011-2019). Eriksson has also competed in eleven consecutive European Curling Championships, winning a record seven gold medals, a record that he shares only with Niklas Edin. With Team Edin, Eriksson has won four World Curling Championship gold medals (in 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2019), placing him in an elite group of curlers to hold four World Championship titles.[15] In 2019, Eriksson became the first curler in history to hold three key gold medals in a single calendar year: the World Curling Championship, the European Curling Championship, and the World Mixed Doubles Championship (with Anna Hasselborg).[2] As part of Team Edin, Eriksson, Niklas Edin, and Christoffer Sundgren also became the first men's curlers to simultaneously hold the World Curling Championship and European Curling Championship titles in two separate calendar years (2015 and 2019). Eriksson and Edin had previously become the first men's curlers to simultaneously hold those same titles in three separate competition seasons (2012-2013, 2014–2015, and 2017-2018).
In 2012 Eriksson was inducted into the Swedish Curling Hall of Fame.
Grand Slam record
| Key | |
|---|---|
| C | Champion |
| F | Lost in Final |
| SF | Lost in Semifinal |
| QF | Lost in Quarterfinals |
| R16 | Lost in the round of 16 |
| Q | Did not advance to playoffs |
| T2 | Played in Tier 2 event |
| DNP | Did not participate in event |
| N/A | Not a Grand Slam event that season |
| Event | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite 10 | N/A | F | Q | Q | Q | Q | N/A |
| Masters | DNP | Q | QF | C | F | SF | Q |
| Tour Challenge | N/A | N/A | Q | C | SF | Q | QF |
| The National | QF | DNP | Q | SF | DNP | QF | F |
| Canadian Open | Q | Q | QF | F | F | SF | Q |
| Players' | DNP | Q | QF | C | F | QF | N/A |
| Champions Cup | N/A | N/A | QF | SF | Q | SF | N/A |
Teams
| Season | Skip/Fourth | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | Anders Eriksson (fourth) | Sebastian Kraupp (skip) | Viktor Kjäll | Oskar Eriksson | ||
| 2006–07 | Oskar Eriksson | Henric Jonsson | Markus Franzén | Nils Karlsson | ||
| 2007–08 | Oskar Eriksson | Henric Jonsson | Markus Franzén | Nils Karlsson | WJCC | |
| 2008–09 | Kristian Lindström (fourth) | Oskar Eriksson (skip) | Alexander Lindström | Christoffer Sundgren | Henrik Leek | WJCC |
| 2009–10 | Kristian Lindström (fourth) | Oskar Eriksson (skip) | Alexander Lindström | Christoffer Sundgren | ||
| Niklas Edin | Sebastian Kraupp | Fredrik Lindberg | Viktor Kjäll | Oskar Eriksson | ECC, OG | |
| 2010–11 | Kristian Lindström (fourth) | Oskar Eriksson (skip) | Henrik Leek | Alexander Lindström | Christoffer Sundgren | WJCC |
| Niklas Edin | Sebastian Kraupp | Fredrik Lindberg | Viktor Kjäll | Oskar Eriksson | ECC, WCC | |
| 2011–12 | Kristian Lindström (fourth) | Oskar Eriksson (skip) | Henrik Leek | Alexander Lindström | Christoffer Sundgren | |
| Niklas Edin | Sebastian Kraupp | Fredrik Lindberg | Viktor Kjäll | Oskar Eriksson | ECC, WCC | |
| 2012–13 | Oskar Eriksson (fourth) | Kristian Lindström (skip) | Markus Eriksson | Christoffer Sundgren | ||
| Niklas Edin | Sebastian Kraupp | Fredrik Lindberg | Viktor Kjäll | Oskar Eriksson | ECC, WCC | |
| 2013–14 | Oskar Eriksson (fourth) | Kristian Lindström (skip) | Markus Eriksson | Christoffer Sundgren | WCC | |
| Niklas Edin | Sebastian Kraupp | Fredrik Lindberg | Viktor Kjäll | Oskar Eriksson | ECC, OG | |
| 2014–15 | Niklas Edin | Oskar Eriksson | Kristian Lindström | Christoffer Sundgren | Henrik Leek | ECC, WCC |
| 2015–16 | Niklas Edin | Oskar Eriksson | Kristian Lindström | Christoffer Sundgren | Henrik Leek | ECC, WCC |
| 2016–17 | Niklas Edin | Oskar Eriksson | Rasmus Wranå | Christoffer Sundgren | Henrik Leek | ECC, WCC |
| 2017–18 | Niklas Edin | Oskar Eriksson | Rasmus Wranå | Christoffer Sundgren | Henrik Leek | ECC, OG, WCC |
| 2018–19 | Niklas Edin | Oskar Eriksson | Rasmus Wranå | Christoffer Sundgren | Daniel Magnusson | ECC, WCC |
| 2019–20 | Niklas Edin | Oskar Eriksson | Rasmus Wranå | Christoffer Sundgren | Daniel Magnusson | ECC |
References
- 2020 Continental Cup Media Guide: Team Edin
- "Plats 1: Oskar Eriksson skrev historia under guldkantat 2019". Värmlands Folkblad. 24 December 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- "Framtiden osäker för Lag Eriksson". Nya Wermlands Tidningen. 30 December 2009. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
- Swedish Men's Curling Championship
- "Oskar kom hem – och vann". Nya Wermalands Tidningen. 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
- "Lag Lindström bäst i Norden". Länstidningen Östersund. 12 October 2008. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
- "Junior SM 2010: Lits CC/Lindström". CupOnline. 6 January 2010. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
- "Junior SM 2012: Granit-Gävle". CupOnline. 7 January 2012. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
- https://litcurling.wordpress.com/
- "Oskar Eriksson, Career Results". www.curlingzone.com. 5 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- cuponline.se/teamView.aspx?cupid=199&id=2669
- https://www.cuponline.se/teamView.aspx?cupid=199&id=2737
- "Topplag i samma bo". Nya Wermlands Tidningen. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- "Edin och Eriksson bilder supercurlinglag". Nya Wermlands-Tidningen. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 2020-04-05..
- List of men's World Curling champions
External links
- Oskar Eriksson on the World Curling Federation database
- Oskar Eriksson on the World Curling Tour database
- Oskar Eriksson on the CurlingZone database
- Lit CC Homepage
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