Niklas Edin
Alina Patz
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Niklas Edin leads 4 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Niklas Edin at #1 and Alina Patz at #5.
The case for Niklas Edin
The most decorated curler in history by any measure. Edin skipped Sweden to eight world titles between 2013 and 2026, including four in a row across 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, and closed his career by beating Canada 9-6 in the 2026 final in Ogden to break his own record. He is also the only skip to win three Olympic medals, taking bronze at Sochi 2014, silver at PyeongChang 2018 and finally gold in Beijing 2022, plus eight European Championship titles. Six of his eight world finals were won against Canadian rinks, which is the statistic that best captures what he did to the sport's balance of power: he took a country with a fraction of Canada's playing base and made it the default favourite for a decade. He retired in May 2026, weeks after the eighth title, with a combined 38 championship medals on World Curling's recognised list.
The case for Alina Patz
Six world women's championships, more than any other Canadian or European skip has managed, and won with four different teams, which is the detail that separates her from every other multiple champion. Patz was the alternate on Mirjam Ott's winning Swiss rink in 2012, skipped her own team to gold in 2015 at 25, and then threw last stones for Silvana Tirinzoni's team through four consecutive titles from 2019 to 2023, adding silvers in 2024 and 2025. She also won the world mixed doubles title in 2011. Her hitting accuracy is the technical hallmark, but the four-peat was built on draws into congested houses under the five-rock rule. Three Olympic appearances brought two fourth places before she finally reached the podium with silver at Milano Cortina 2026, and she returns to skipping her own team afterwards.