Niklas Edin
Rachel Homan
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Niklas Edin leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Niklas Edin at #1 and Rachel Homan at #4.
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 Rachel Homan
The dominant women's skip of the 2020s and the most prolific winner in the professional era of the sport. Homan won the world championship in 2017 with an undefeated run, then took back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025, making her Canadian rink the first to defend the women's world crown since Schmirler in 1993-94. Domestically she has five Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles, and her 2023-24 season produced a 67-7 overall record widely described as the best any women's team has posted. She won 22 consecutive Scotties games across 2024 and 2025 and shot a perfect 100 percent in the 2025 final. Her 20 Grand Slam titles are the most by any woman. The one gap closed only partly at Milano Cortina 2026, where she took bronze at her third Olympics after finishing sixth in 2018.