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Joël Retornaz

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Joël Retornaz
Curler
BornJoël Thierry Retornaz
(1983-09-30) 30 September 1983 (age 42)
Chêne-Bougeries, Genève, Switzerland
Team
Curling clubTrentino Curling Cembra, Cembra[1]
SkipJoël Retornaz
ThirdStefano Gilli
SecondAndrea Gilli
LeadAlberto Pimpini
Curling career
Member Association Italy
World Championship
appearances		11 (2005, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
European Championship
appearances		17 (2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
Olympic
appearances		4 (2006, 2018, 2022, 2026)
Grand Slam victories4 (2022 Masters, 2023 Tour Challenge, 2023 National, 2023 Masters)
Medal record
Men's curling
Representing  Italy
World Men's Curling Championship
Bronze medal – third place2022 Las Vegas
Bronze medal – third place2024 Schaffhausen
European Curling Championships
Bronze medal – third place2018 Tallinn
Bronze medal – third place2021 Lillehammer
Bronze medal – third place2022 Östersund

Joël Thierry Retornaz (born 30 September 1983 in Chêne-Bougeries, Genève, Switzerland) is an Italian curler from Cembra. He was the skip of the Italian men's Olympic curling team in 2006,[2] 2018, 2022, and 2026.

Career

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Retornaz gained sudden renown in Italy during the 2006 Winter Olympics. Although Italy has little curling tradition, and the sport was practiced only by a few hundred amateurs, Retornaz led the semi-professional Italian team to several unexpected victories over strong teams, including Canada.[2] This breakthrough inspired a sudden national curiosity for curling, previously almost unknown in Italy.[3]

Retornaz returned to the Olympics in 2018, skipping the Italians again while throwing third rocks. The team finished 9th with a 3-6 record. The team finished 3–6 again at the 2022 Olympics, placing 9th again.

Retornaz has represented Italy in eleven World Curling Championships, in 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 skipping the team in each event except 2005. They have twice won bronze medals at the 2022 and 2024 World Men's Curling Championship, Italy's first medals at the curling worlds of either gender.

Retornaz has competed for Italy in 16 European Curling Championships (as of 2024), finally winning a bronze medal in his 11th try in 2018, skipping the rink of Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman, Simone Gonin and Fabio Ribotta. Retornaz won a second bronze in 2021 and a third in 2022.

Personal life

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In addition to curling, Retornaz breeds and races quarter horses. He is employed as a businessman.[4] He is currently married and lives in Lugano, Switzerland.[5] Retornaz speaks five languages, his first language is Italian, which was spoken to him by his mother, his father is from Switzerland and from whom he learned French when he was raised in Geneva, he also speaks English, German and Chinese, which he learned in school.[6]

Grand Slam record

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Retornaz won Italy's first Grand Slam championship at the 2022 Masters.

Key
CChampion
FLost in Final
SFLost in Semifinal
QFLost in Quarterfinals
R16Lost in the round of 16
QDid not advance to playoffs
T2Played in Tier 2 event
DNPDid not participate in event
N/ANot a Grand Slam event that season
Event 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Masters DNP C C Q QF
Tour Challenge N/A QF C Q SF
The National DNP Q C QF Q
Canadian Open N/A SF QF SF QF
Players' Q SF F Q QF
Champions Cup DNP Q N/A N/A N/A

References

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  1. ↑ "Campionato Assoluto Maschile Anno sportivo 2023-2024". Italian Ice Sports Federation (in Italian). Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Joël Retornaz". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Gli azzurri del curling e lo spot in TV". repubblica.it.
  4. ↑ "2015 World Men's Curling - Eye Opener - Issue 4" (PDF). Curling Canada. 31 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "2021 BKT Tires-OK Tires World Men's Curling Championship Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ↑ @grandslamofcurling; (13 April 2024). "CURLING'S GOT TALENT: PART 4 🕺Joel Retornaz casually speaking in 5 different languages" – via Instagram.
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