Niklas Edin
Sandra Schmirler
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 Sandra Schmirler at #3.
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 Sandra Schmirler
The most influential women's skip the sport has produced, and the reason curling had a face when it entered the Olympic programme. Schmirler's Regina rink of Jan Betker, Joan McCusker and Marcia Gudereit won the Canadian championship and then the world title in 1993, 1994 and 1997, a treble no other women's team had managed, and in 1998 she skipped Canada to the first Olympic women's gold at Nagano, finishing 8-1 and beating Denmark in the final. Her shot-making under pressure, particularly a series of last-stone doubles in Canadian playoffs, is still used as coaching footage. She died of cancer in March 2000, aged 36, less than two years after the Olympic title. The foundation established in her name has since raised millions for neonatal intensive care units across Canada, and the Sandra Schmirler Foundation broadcast remains a fixture of the Canadian curling calendar.