Sven Michel (born 30 March 1988) is a Swiss curler from Matten. He is the 2026 Winter Olympics bronze medalist in men's team event, two-time World Champion in mixed doubles, and a European Men's Champion. Michel has also represented Switzerland at the 2014 and 2022 Winter Olympics.
As a junior curler, Michel would represent Switzerland at the 2006 and 2007 World Junior Curling Championships, playing third for Christian von Gunten. Michel would win a bronze medal at the 2007 World Juniors, beating Denmark's Rasmus Stjerne 7âÂÂ6 in the bronze medal game in an extra end.
Michel won his first World Curling Tour event in September 2011 when he skipped his team that won the 2011 Baden Masters. Michel would make his international men's debut as an alternate for the Christof Schwaller rink at the 2011 World Men's Curling Championship, where the Swiss team would finish in 7th place, with a 6âÂÂ5 record. Michel's rink of Claudio Pätz, Sandro Trolliet, and Simon Gempeler would be chosen to represent Switzerland at the 2011 European Curling Championships. At the European's, the Swiss team finished 6th with a 5âÂÂ4 record. However, the Michel rink would lose the 2012 Swiss Men's Championship to Jan Hauser, failing to qualify for the 2012 World Championships.
Michel's rink would again be selected by the Swiss Curling Association to represent Switzerland at the 2012 European Curling Championships, where they would again finish 6th with an identical 5âÂÂ4 record as the previous European's. However, Michel's rink would win the 2013 Swiss Men's Championship, qualifying them to represent Switzerland at the 2013 World Men's Curling Championship. At the worlds, Michel's rink would finish in 7th with a 6âÂÂ5 record. Michel's rink would represent Switzerland again at the 2013 European Curling Championship, where Michel would win his first European Championship, winning against Norway's Thomas Ulsrud 8âÂÂ6 in the final. Michel's success led his rink to be selected by the Swiss Curling Association to represent the country at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where the team went 3âÂÂ6 in the round robin, finishing 8th.
Michel would create a new team in 2015, alongside Gempeler, as well as brothers Marc Pfister and Enrico Pfister. They would qualify and play in three Grand Slams, missing the playoffs in all of them. Michel would skip the Swiss team at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship. At the 2016 Worlds, the team had a disappointing tournament, going 4âÂÂ7 and finishing 9th. After the season, Michel announced he would be parting ways with the team.
After taking a break from competitive curling, at the beginning of the 2018âÂÂ19 season, Michel announced he would be joining the Peter de Cruz team, alongside Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel and Valentin Tanner. de Cruz would be skip but throw second rocks, Schwarz-van Berkel throwing fourth rocks, Michel throwing third rocks, and Tanner playing lead. At the 2018 European Curling Championships, the new de Cruz team would finish 6th, completing the round robin with a 5âÂÂ4 record. The new de Cruz team would also go on to beat Yannick Schwaller in the final of the 2019 Swiss Men's Curling Championship, qualifying de Cruz to represent Switzerland at the 2019 World Men's Curling Championship. At the 2019 World Championship, they had a strong showing, winning bronze after beating Japan's Yuta Matsumura 8âÂÂ4 in the bronze medal game.
After the World Championships were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the de Cruz rink would return to represent Switzerland at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship, once again winning a bronze medal, beating RCF's Sergey Glukhov 6âÂÂ5 in the bronze medal game. Team de Cruz would represent Switzerland at the 2021 European Curling Championships, where they would finish 5th, finishing round robin play with a 5âÂÂ4 record. de Cruz would also win the 2021 Swiss Olympic curling trials, and be selected to represent Switzerland at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Michel's second Olympics. At the 2022 Olympics, the Swiss would finish in 7th place with a 4âÂÂ5 record.
In April 2022, it was announced that Schwarz-van Berkel and Michel would be joining a new team skipped by Yannick Schwaller and Pablo Lachat for the 2022âÂÂ23 season. Schwaller would skip the team but throw third rocks with Schwarz-van Berkel throwing fourth rocks, Michel playing second, and Lachat at lead. The new Schwaller rink would represent Switzerland at the 2022 European Curling Championships, where they would go 8âÂÂ1 in the round robin, but lose to Scotland's Bruce Mouat 5âÂÂ4 in the final, winning the silver medal. Schwaller would go on to represent Switzerland at the 2023 World Men's Curling Championship, where they would win a bronze medal, beating Italy's Joël Retornaz 11âÂÂ3 in the bronze medal game. Schwaller would again represent Switzerland at the 2023 European Curling Championships, once again winning a bronze medal over Italy's Retornaz, this time by a score of 8âÂÂ4 in the bronze medal game. At the 2024 World Men's Curling Championship, the Swiss team would finish a disappointing 7th, going 6âÂÂ6 in round robin play. However, Schwaller would have a strong season on the Grand Slam of Curling tour, finishing in the semifinals of both the 2023 National and 2023 Masters.
Schwaller would again have a strong start to the 2024âÂÂ25 curling season. At the Grand Slam events, Schwaller would finish in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Tour Challenge and semifinalists at the 2024 Canadian Open. At the 2024 European Curling Championships, the team would finish 4th, losing to Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell in the bronze medal game. The Schwaller rink would return to the 2025 World Men's Curling Championship, where they would go 9âÂÂ3 in the round robin, but lose in the final to Scotland's Mouat 5âÂÂ4, finishing in second and winning the silver medal.
Michel played with partner Alina Pätz at the 2011 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, where they won the World Championship, beating Russia's Alexey Tselousov and Alina Kovaleva 11âÂÂ2 in the final. Michel would also represent Switzerland with Michèle Jäggi at the 2018 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, where they would also win the gold medal, beating the Russian duo of Maria Komarova and Daniil Goriachev 9âÂÂ6 in the final.
Michel and Pätz returned to mixed doubles in 2022, where they represented Switzerland on home soil in Geneva at the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. Michel and PÃÂtz would again have a strong championship, but would lose in the final 9âÂÂ7 to Scotland's Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie. Michel and Pätz will represent Switzerland again at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
Michel is employed as a bricklayer. He is in a relationship with fellow curler Alina Pätz.