For 12 National Football League seasons from 2004 to 2015, defensive end Jared Allen of Dallas, Texas was one of the most fierce football players on the field. He was selected to the Pro Bowl five times as a defensive end (2007 with the Kansas City Chiefs and 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012 with the Minnesota Vikings).
Since Allen’s retirement on February 18, 2016, he has taken up another sport. That sport is curling, and this week Allen is making noise as one of the seconds at the 2023 United States National Men’s Curling Championships in Denver, Colorado. Allen, along with skip Jason Smith of Robbinsdale, Minnesota, third Dominik Marki of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and lead Hunter Clarkson of Clarksville, Maryland have won two of their first three games.
However, it is who Allen and his team beat which is making sports headlines. On Sunday, they beat 2018 Olympic gold medalist John Shuster of Chisholm, Minnesota 10-6. It was a strong finish for the Smith team as they scored five points in the last two ends. Shuster shocked the curling world with his own version of Miracle on Ice. He defeated Niklas Edin of Sweden 10-7 in the gold medal game of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Allen is one of two notable multi-sport athletes competing at the 2023 United States National Men’s Curling Championships. The other is former baseball catcher Josh Chetwynd of London, England, who is a fifth for Darryl Sobering of Littleton, Colorado. Chetwynd represented Great Britain at the 2001 European Baseball Championship in Germany, the 2003 European Baseball Championship in the Netherlands, and the 2005 European Baseball Championships in the Czechia.
Allen’s dream meanwhile is to represent the United States in men’s curling at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. He will try to be the second NFL player in recent memory with an Olympic connection and last name of Allen. A year ago, the Philadelphia Eagles signed hurdler Devon Allen to a three-year contract. Devon Allen represented the United States in the men’s 110 metre hurdles at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
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