Prior to his deal to play for
Russia, Gunnlaugson had skipped his team out of
Beausejour, Manitoba. In 2009, Gunnlaugson took over the reins of
Daley Peters's team when Peters left the team to curl with his father
Vic Peters. Gunnlaugson had been a member of the Peters team solely for the 2008-09 season, prior to that he had played third on the
Reid Carruthers team. Gunnlaugson acquired a berth at the
2009 Olympic Pre-Trials through his CTRS ranking from September 2007 to April 2009, highest of teams not already qualified. Most of those points were acquired earlier as part of the Reid Carruthers team, the Gunnlaugson team was the last team to qualify for the pre-trials. The four-some surprised many by being one of the four teams to qualify for the main Olympic trials, defeating
Mike McEwen with the last rock in the extra end of the 'C' Final. However, at the trials, the team finished winless, with an 0-7 record. Coming from curling strong Manitoba, Gunnlaugson won the
Viterra Provincial Championships for the first time in 2020 to play in the
Brier. He also played second for Manitoba (skipped by Carruthers) at the 2008
Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. Gunnlaugson is well known in the curling community for his up-weight peel shots. He is able to throw a rock with a 4-second
peel (time measured from
hogline to hogline). Some of his shots at the 2008 Canadian Mixed Tournament were captured on
YouTube. His teammates were unable to keep up with the speed of the rock.
Joining the Russians On April 28, 2010 Jason Gunnlaugson announced his deal with the Russian Curling Federation. The negotiations were for Jason Gunnlaugson and teammates Tyler Forrest and Justin Richter to pair with two Russian curlers (
Alexey Stukalskiy and
Aleksandr Kozyrev) to create a Russian team to qualify for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. The deal involved each of the players earning $100,000 to train. In November 2010, Gunnlaugson won the
Russian Men's Curling Cup. His team defeated
Artem Shmakov's
Chelyabinsk rink in the final by a score of 7-1. However, later that month, Gunnlaugson, Forrest and Richter refused to renounce their Canadian citizenships in order to fast track their acquiring of Russian citizenships in order to play at the
2010 European Curling Championships. After that, the Russian Curling Federation fired the three Canadians. The Canadian Curling Association ruled that despite winning the Russian cup, the team would still be eligible to compete for
the Brier, Canada's national championship. However, the team was eliminated from even playing in the
Manitoba provincial championship, after failing to qualify out of their zone.
Relocating to British Columbia At the end of the 2011-12 curling season, Gunnlaugson relocated to British Columbia after taking a job with his uncle's company. Initially Gunnlaugson was planning to take a year off from competing. For the 2012-13 season Gunnlaugson teamed up with
Jim Cotter, playing third and replacing
Kevin Folk who moved to Calgary. The team won one event together, the
2012 Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic. They also played in four slams, making it to the finals of the
2012 Rogers Masters of Curling. The arrangement would only last one season. Gunnlaugson would remain as the team's alternate for part of the 2013-14 season, after
John Morris was added to the team. He was their alternate at the
2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials but was replaced by
Jody Epp for the
2014 Tim Hortons Brier.
Back to Manitoba Gunnlaugson returned to Manitoba in 2014, eventually joining the
William Lyburn rink at third for one season. The team won the
MCT Championships and would place fourth at the
2016 Manitoba provincial men's championship. Gunnlaugson left the rink after the season, and formed a new team, skipping a rink consisting of
Colton Lott,
Kyle Doering and
Robbie Gordon. The team won the
Performance Spider Midweek Special and finished fourth at the
2017 Viterra Championship, Manitoba's provincial championship. After the
2016-17 curling season, Gunnlaugson formed a new team of
Alex Forrest,
Ian McMillan and
Connor Njegovan. Early on in the
2017-18 curling season, the team won the
2017 GSOC Tour Challenge Tier 2 event, defeating Gunnlaugson's former skip, William Lyburn in the final. That season, they also won the
Mother Club Fall Curling Classic and the
MCT Championships. The team played in the
2017 Olympic Pre-trials. There, they went 3-3 in the round robin portion, putting them in a tiebreaker against
Jamie Murphy. They beat Murphy, but lost in the B quarterfinals against
Glenn Howard. Gunnlaugson was invited to play as
Brendan Bottcher's alternate at the main trials, but the team failed to qualify for the playoffs. Later in the season, at the
2018 Viterra Championship provincial playdowns, the Gunnlaugson rink was eliminated after only three games. In mixed doubles play, Gunnlaugson and partner
Shannon Birchard won the
Pacific Northwest Mixed Doubles Invitational. In 2018,
Denni Neufeld was added to the team, replacing McMillan. In the
2018-19 curling season, the team represented Canada at the
second leg of the 2018-19 Curling World Cup, but finished the event with a 1-5 record, in last place. They had more success at the
2019 Viterra Championship, making it to the semifinal, where they lost to William Lyburn. On the tour, the team played in the
2018 Elite 10, the
2018 Masters, the
2018 Tour Challenge, the
2018 National, the
2019 Canadian Open, only making it to the playoffs at the National. In 2019, the team added
Adam Casey, replacing Neufeld. The team won the
2019 Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker at the start of the
2019-20 season. They also won the
Mother Club Fall Curling Classic and the
Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic. Gunnlaugson won his first
Provincial title at the
2020 Viterra Championship after defeating the
Mike McEwen rink 7–4 in the final. Team Gunnlaugson represented Manitoba at the
2020 Tim Hortons Brier, where they finished in eighth place with a 5–6 record. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the
Players' Championship and the
Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Following the season, the rink added
Matt Wozniak at second, with Casey moving to third, replacing Forrest. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Gunnlaugson was chosen to represent Manitoba at the
2021 Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, Gunnlaugson led his team to a 6–6 eighth place finish. The team wrapped up the season by playing in the
2021 Champions Cup and the
2021 Players' Championship. The next season, the team won the
2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials to qualify the rink for the
2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. At the Trials, Gunnlaugson led his rink to a 2–6 record, missing the playoffs. The team played in the
2022 Viterra Championship, but were eliminated after winning just two games. Despite this, they qualified for the
2022 Tim Hortons Brier as a Wild Card team. Gunnlaugson led his team to a 5–3 record at the Brier, and qualified for the championship after winning a tiebreaker. However, they were eliminated after losing their first game against Team Canada, skipped by
Brendan Bottcher. On the tour, the team won the 2021
DeKalb Superspiel, and played in the
2021 Masters, the
2021 National, the
2022 Players' Championship and the
2022 Champions Cup, making it to the quarters in the last two events. In April 2022, it was announced that Gunnlaugson and his rink were splitting up, and he would be joining a new team skipped by
Reid Carruthers. On December 19, 2022 it was announced that Gunnlaugson had left the Carruthers rink. ==Personal life==