Sandra Schmirler - World Champions

Schmirler's rink won the Scott Tournament of Hearts in 1993, only a few years after forming. They represented Canada in the world curling championships that year, and won those, too. The team repeated their wins at the Scott Tournament of Hearts and the world championships in 1994, but by 1995 the pressure of being the favorites, as well as stresses in their personal lives, began to affect the rink and they started to slump. But they pulled together, found their focus again, and in 1997 they won the Canadian and world championships for an unprecedented third time, despite the fact that Schmirler was throwing stones while five months pregnant with her first child at the world championships. At that time no other rink composed of the same four women had ever won more than two world championships. (Schmirler's perpetual competitor, the Swedish rink captained by Elisabet Gustafson, tied their record of three titles with wins at the world championships in 1992, 1995, and 1998, and surpassed their record with a fourth win in 1999.)