Niklas Edin
Jennifer Jones
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Niklas Edin leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Niklas Edin at #1 and Jennifer Jones at #6.
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 Jennifer Jones
The most durable competitor in the modern women's game and the only skip to go through an Olympic curling tournament unbeaten in the women's event, finishing 11-0 at Sochi 2014. Jones won six Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles between 2005 and 2018, tying Colleen Jones's record, and world championships in 2008 and 2018, ten years apart. Her single most replayed shot came at the 2005 Scotties, where she hit an opposition stone outside the house and rolled to the button for four to win the final with the last stone of the game, a shot the broadcast analyst called the best he had ever seen. She reached eighteen Scotties in all before retiring from four-player curling after the 2024 season, then continued competing in mixed doubles with her husband Brent Laing.