Sandra Schmirler
Alina Patz
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Alina Patz leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Sandra Schmirler at #3 and Alina Patz at #5.
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.
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.