Aidan Oldenburg
| Aidan Oldenburg | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 22, 2001 Minnesota, United States |
| Team | |
| Curling club | Chaska CC, Chaska, MN[1] |
| Skip | Daniel Casper |
| Third | Luc Violette |
| Second | Ben Richardson |
| Lead | Aidan Oldenburg |
| Alternate | Rich Ruohonen |
| Mixed doubles partner | Madison Bear |
| Curling career | |
| Member Association | United States |
| World Championship appearances | 1 (2026) |
| Olympic appearances | 1 (2026) |
Aidan Oldenburg (born June 22, 2001)[2] is an American curler from Mapleton, Minnesota.[3] He is currently the lead on Team Daniel Casper, and will be representing the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He also notably wears different colored neon headbands while competing on the ice.[4]
Curling career
Juniors
Oldenburg, in his junior career, would notably skip a team out of St. Paul to a silver medal at the 2021 United States Junior Curling Championships, losing 5–3 in the final to Daniel Casper.[5]
Men's
Once aging out of Juniors, Oldenburg would join the Daniel Casper rink as their new lead alongside Casper, Luc Violette, and Ben Richardson. Team Casper would begin to find success in the 2025–26 curling season, starting with a second-place finish at the 2025 Trentino Curling World Cup, losing to Yannick Schwaller 7–6 in the final. Casper continued their strong start to the season by winning the Grand Slam of Curling Masters Tier 2 event, beating Kevin Koe 4–2 in the final. Their performance over the past two seasons qualified the team for the 2025 United States Olympic Curling Trials. At the Trials, Team Casper would go 4–2 in the round robin and beat the rink led by 2018 Olympic Champion and 5-time Olympian John Shuster in the best-of-three final series, winning the deciding Game 3 by a score of 7–5 after the two sides split the first two games.[6] This win qualified the Casper rink to represent the United States at the 2025 Olympic Qualification Event. The team would go on to win the Qualification Event, finishing 6–1 after round robin play and beating China's Xu Xiaoming 9–4, qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics.[7]
Mixed doubles
Oldenburg has also competed in mixed doubles with Madison Bear, notably at the 2025 United States Olympic mixed doubles curling trials, where they qualified for the playoffs after finishing round-robin play with a 6–3 record. However, they would lose in the semifinal 7–5 to Sarah Anderson and Andrew Stopera, winning the bronze medal.
Personal life
Oldenburg began curling at age 10.[3] However, he was also well known at the Minnesota State Fair where Oldenburg juggled flaming torches to "We Didn't Start the Fire" in performances with his older brother that included a backflip.[3][8] He also participated in 4-H as a child.[8]
Outside of curling, Oldenburg works as an environmental scientist on permitting for wind and solar projects nationwide, fulfilling a lifelong dream that, as a child, he would spend hours on projects involving animals and wildlife, especially fish.[3][8] Oldenburg graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with bachelor's degree in ecology in 2022, where he was captain of the Minnesota State Mavericks' varsity Valorant E-Sports team.[3]
References
- ^ "USA Curling National Team Athletes". USA Curling. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
- ^ "Aidan OLDENBURG - Olympic Curling Athlete". Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e "Aidan Oldenburg". Team USA. Archived from the original on December 28, 2025. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
Age 24
- ^ Macklin Stern (December 8, 2025). "The Team Casper celebration that's sweeping the nation". NBC News. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
- ^ "Oldenburg runner-up at 2022 USCA Junior Championships". CurlingZone. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
- ^ "Casper ends Shuster's memorable run by defeating 2018 Olympic gold medalist in USA Curling Trials final". TSN. November 17, 2025. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
- ^ Stern, Macklin (December 11, 2025). "Team Casper (USA) defeats Team Xu (China) to qualify for 2026 Winter Olympics". NBC News. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c Froehlich, Rebecca (March 31, 2025). "From the state fair 4-H stage to Olympic Trials". University of Minnesota. Retrieved December 21, 2025.