Cory Christensen

The 2020 United States Women's Championship was the first national championship for Christensen in a position other than skip. Christensen and Team Sinclair only lost one game in the round robin, earning the number one seed in the playoffs. In the 1 vs. 2 page playoff Christensen lost to Tabitha Peterson's team, who they faced again in the final after defeating Ariel Traxler's junior team in the semifinals. Peterson defeated Team Sinclair a second time in the final, with a final score of 7–5, resulting in Christensen's second Women's Nationals silver medal.

In 2019 Christensen and mixed doubles partner John Shuster won the United States Mixed Doubles Championship and earned the bronze medal at the World Mixed Doubles Championship.

At the 2019 United States Women's Championship Christensen finished the round-robin with a record of 5–2, good enough for the third seed in the page playoffs. In the 3 vs. 4 playoff game they defeated Stephanie Senneker's team by one point, 9–8. In the semifinal match against Nina Roth's team it came down to the last stone but Roth came through with the win, resulting in the bronze medal for Christensen.

Only a week after the women's curling wrapped up at the Olympics Christensen was at the 2018 United States Women's Championship with her usual team of Sarah Anderson, Taylor Anderson, and Jenna Martin (née Haag). Team Christensen defeated Cora Farrell's team in the semifinals to face the defending champions, Team Jamie Sinclair, in the final. Christensen and Sinclair were tied after nine ends, but Sinclair scored a single point in the final end to win the gold medal.

Shortly after the 2018–19 curling season ended it was announced that Christensen's team was dissolving; Martin decided to step away from competitive curling, Bear became skip of her own team, and Christensen and Persinger joined Jamie Sinclair's team. Christensen and Persinger took the third and second spots on Team Sinclair, respectively, while Sarah and Taylor Anderson, who had previously played those positions, moved up to lead and alternate. Retired Canadian curler Cathy Overton-Clapham joined Team Sinclair as their coach for the 2019–20 season. On the WCT the team won the Red Deer Curling Classic and followed it a couple of weeks later by making it to the quarterfinals at the Curl Mesabi Classic, where they lost to Tabitha Peterson's team.

Team Christensen maintained their line-up for the 2017–18 season, with the exception of Phill Drobnick replacing Ann Swisshelm as coach. They were one of only three women's teams competing at the 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials, attempting to earn the chance to represent the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics. At the Trials Team Christensen only won one game and Nina Roth's team ultimately became the Olympic team, but Christensen was again asked to be the alternate for Team Roth (the same position she filled at the 2017 World Championship). At the Olympics the team missed the playoffs, finishing eighth with a record of 4–5.

Christensen continued to compete in mixed doubles with John Shuster. The pair finished in second place at the 2017 United States Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials and earned a national championship in 2019. For winning the National Championship Christensen and Shuster got to continue on to the 2019 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, where they defeated Australia to earn the bronze medal. Christensen and Shuster were named the United States Curling Association's 2019 Team of the Year for their accomplishments in mixed doubles.

Christensen did not return to the Mixed Doubles National Championship in 2016 but did join John Shuster to compete at the USCA's World Mixed Doubles Trials, a separate competition held to determine the United States representative at the 2016 World Mixed Doubles Championship. Shuster and Christensen made it through a playdown of the USCA High Performance athletes to earn a spot in the World Trials. At the World Trials they finished with a 2–5 record.

No longer in juniors, Christensen and the Anderson twins were reunited with their former teammate Jenna Haag, who had aged out of juniors a year before them, for the 2016–17 season. Christensen returned to the St. Paul Cash Spiel and successfully defended her previous year's title, only losing one game throughout the tournament. At the 2017 United States Women's Championship Team Christensen missed the playoffs, finishing with a 4–3 record. Despite falling short at Nationals, Christensen still got to compete at the 2017 World Women's Championship when Nina Roth's team added her as their alternate. At Worlds they finished in fifth place.

Coming into the 2015–16 season Christensen's team again had line-up changes since Mackenzie Lank was no longer part of the USCA High Performance Program and Jenna Haag had graduated from juniors to women's. Sarah Anderson kept her spot at third, Taylor Anderson moved to second, Madison Bear joined the team at lead, and Christine McMakin joined as alternate. They again won a WCT event early in the season, going undefeated at the 2015 St. Paul Cash Spiel. At the 2016 Junior National Championship the team finished with a perfect 11–0 record, never even needing to play a full ten end game. This was Christensen's third Junior title in a row and fourth overall, the second most for a women's skip after Erika Brown's five titles. It was also Christensen and the Anderson twins' last Junior Nationals due to ageing out of juniors after this season. Winning Junior Nationals earned Team Christensen a spot at the Women's National Championship in Jacksonville, Florida, where they earned the fourth seed in the playoffs with a 3–3 round-robin record. They defeated Jamie Sinclair in the 3 vs 4 page playoff game but then lost to Nina Roth in the semifinals, earning the bronze medal.

Christensen grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. She started curling at an early age, facilitated by both of her parents curling and the local Duluth Curling Club having a strong youth program. Her mom Linda Christensen has found competitive success on the curling ice as well, winning the United States Senior Curling Championship twice, in 2015 and 2016, and earning the bronze medal at the 2015 World Senior Championship.

The USCA's High Performance Advisory Group picked Christensen's team and Korey Dropkin's team (the American boy's team at the Winter Universiade) to automatically earn berths at the 2014 United States Junior Nationals so they didn't need to worry about play-downs, which were held very close in time to when the Winter Universiade occurred. Christensen's team had a slightly tweaked line-up for Junior Nationals, with Mackenzie Lank at third, Anna Bauman still at second, Anna Hopkins joining the team at lead, and Sonja Bauman remaining as alternate. With a win over Sarah Anderson's team in the final, Christensen earned her second Junior Nationals title. At the 2014 World Junior Championship Christensen missed the payoffs, finishing in 6th place with a 5–4 record.

Also during the 2014–15 season Christensen made her competitive debut in mixed doubles, a discipline of curling where teams are composed of one man and one woman. Christensen teamed up with Derek Benson for the 2015 United States Mixed Doubles Championship. They finished with a 2–3 record, missing the playoffs, but one of their two wins was over Maureen and Peter Stolt, who went on to win the silver medal.

The next season Christensen returned to competition with the Bauman sisters remaining on the front end of the team and Rebecca Funk replacing Busche at third. The team started the season off strong, winning the Minnesota Junior Women's State Championship. At the 2013 Junior Nationals it looked like Christensen was going to defend to her title when she finished the round-robin as the number one seed with a 8–1 record, but ultimately she had to settle for the silver medal when they lost the final to Miranda Solem's team by a single point. Christensen would still get to play at the 2013 World Junior Championships though, as Solem asked her to join as their alternate. Christensen would play in four games at the World Juniors as they finished in seventh place with a 4–5 record.

After Christensen returned from the World Championship she rejoined her Junior Nationals team, plus Mackenzie Lank as alternate, for one more event at the end of the season, the qualifier to represent the United States at the 2013 Winter Universiade. The University Games Qualifier had five of the top Junior Women's teams and six of the top Junior Men's teams in the country competing. Tied after the round-robin, Christensen defeated Becca Hamilton's team in a tiebreaker to earn their trip to the Winter Universiade next season.

Over the 2013 off-season it was announced that the Christensen team was joining the United States Curling Association's (USCA) Project 2018 Program, to which they were invited due to winning the University Games Qualifier at the end of the previous season. The Project 2018 Program was a part of the USCA High Performance Program intended to nurture junior curlers, with success at the 2018 Winter Olympics as the goal.

Christensen, Funk, and the Bauman sisters started the 2013–14 season off playing in a series of World Curling Tour (WCT) bonspiels as a lead up to the 2013 Winter Universiade. They only won one game in each of the Fort Wayne Summer Cash Spiel, the St. Paul Cash Spiel, and the Molson Cash Spiel but won the 2013 FSCC Early Cash bonspiel in Blaine, Minnesota, their first WCT win. At the Winter Universiade, held in Trentino, Italy, Sonja Bauman and Mackenzie Lank swapped positions, with Lank taking over at lead. The team missed the playoffs, finished the round-robin in eighth place with a 3–6 record.

After the 2013–14 season the USCA revamped their High Performance Program from team-based to individual-based; curlers would be invited into the program as individuals and then assigned teammates. Christensen was selected as the skip of the junior women's team, to play with Sarah Anderson at third, Mackenzie Lank at second, Jenna Haag at lead, and Sarah's twin sister Taylor Anderson as alternate. The new Team Christensen won the 2014 Molson Cash Spiel, a WCT event, defeating Canadian Kendra Lilly in the final. They then won the 2015 Junior National Championship, defeating Madison Bear's team 10–6 in nine ends in the final. A month later Christensen made her first non-junior national appearance when her team competed at the 2015 United States Women's Championship. They finished the round-robin with a 8–1 record but lost in the 3 vs 4 page playoff game to Patti Lank, MacKenzie's mother and a five-time United States champion. At the 2015 World Juniors Christensen finished the round-robin with a 5–4 record, the same as in 2014, but this time it was good enough to tie Lisa Gisler's Switzerland team for the last playoffs berth. Christensen lost the tiebreaker game to Gisler, who would go on to win the bronze medal.

At Christensen's final World Junior Championship she found her greatest success, finishing the round-robin with a 7–2 record, good enough for the second seed in the page playoff system. In the 1 vs 2 playoff game Christensen defeated the number one seed Canada, skipped by Mary Fay. This gave the United States a path straight to the final where they ultimately faced Canada again, this time losing 4–7 to earn the silver medal.

The next season brought a new line-up for Team Christensen. The Anderson twins left to join Jamie Sinclair, replaced by Madison Bear at lead and Vicky Persinger at third, and Jenna Martin moved to second. The team also got a new coach, Canadian Darah Blandford, in her first year with the USCA High Performance Program. Christensen was chosen to represent the United States at the third leg of the Curling World Cup in Jönköping, Sweden; the Curling World Cup was a four-part international tournament held around the world throughout the curling season. There they finished with a 3–3 record.

Christensen's first appearance on the national stage was at the 2011 United States Junior National Championships, where she finished fifth. Out of her six Junior National appearances, that would be the only time she did not play in the championship final. At the 2012 Junior Championships Christensen returned with the same team of third Elizabeth Busche, second Anna Bauman and lead Sonja Bauman. Christensen skipped her team to victory, earning her first national title and her first opportunity to represent the United States at the World Junior Championships. At the 2012 World Juniors in Ostersund, Sweden, Christensen's team finished with a winless 0–9 record. Tragedy struck just weeks after competing at the World Championship when Christensen's vice-skip Busche died from cancer. Buche's sudden, young death hit Christensen and the rest of the Duluth junior curlers hard.

Cory Christensen (born December 1, 1994) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. Christensen was one of the top junior women's curlers in the United States, playing in six national junior championships and winning four of them. She was the alternate on Nina Roth's 2018 United States Olympic team.