World Championship - Most Successful Athlete in Each Sport

Most Successful Athlete in Each Sport

This table includes medals for both individual and team events. Currently active competitors are highlighted in pale green.

Men
Category Sport Athlete Born Tot. Ref.
Bicycle racing Cycling (road) Fabian Cancellara 1981 4 0 2 6
Óscar Freire 1976 3 0 1 4
Eddy Merckx 1945
Rik Van Steenbergen 1924-2003
Alfredo Binda 1902-1986
Cycling (track) Arnaud Tournant 1978 14 3 2 19
BMX racing Randy Stumpfhauser 1977 4 5 3 12
Mountain bike racing Julien Absalon 1980 4 1 1 6
Combat sports Boxing Félix Savón 1967 6 1 0 7
Judo Teddy Riner 1989 6 1 0 7
Taekwondo Steven López 1978 5 0 0 5
Wrestling Aleksandr Karelin 1967 9 0 0 9
Motor sports Formula One Michael Schumacher 1969 7 2 3 12
Motorboat racing Guido Cappellini 1959 10 2 2 14
Motorcycle racing Giacomo Agostini 1942 15 5 1 21
Motocross Stefan Everts 1972 10 4 1 13
Rallying Sébastien Loeb 1974 9 1 0 10
Roller sports Inline speed skating Chad Hedrick 1977 50 14 4 68
Roller artistic skating Roberto Riva 1986 10 1 0 11
Water sports Swimming Michael Phelps 1985 26 6 1 33
Diving Dmitri Sautin 1974 5 1 3 9
Canoe sprint Ivan Patzaichin 1974 9 4 9 22
Rowing Daniele Gilardoni 1976 11 1 1 13
Sailing Paul Elvstrøm 1928 11 2 2 15
Winter sports Alpine skiing Kjetil André Aamodt 1971 5 4 3 12
Biathlon Ole Einar Bjørndalen 1974 18 11 9 38
Bobsleigh Eugenio Monti 1928-2003 9 1 0 10
Skeleton Gregor Stähli 1968 4 3 3 10
Luge Armin Zöggeler 1974 6 5 5 16
Cross-country skiing Bjørn Dæhlie 1967 10 5 4 19
Ski jumping Janne Ahonen 1977 5 3 2 10
Nordic combined Bjarte Engen Vik 1971 5 3 0 8
Freestyle skiing Edgar Grospiron 1969 3 0 0 3
Snowboarding Jasey Jay Anderson 1968 4 0 0 4
Figure skating Ulrich Salchow 1877-1949 11 3 0 14
Speed skating Sven Kramer 1986 16 1 2 19
Short track speed skating Ahn Hyun-Soo 1985 20 11 4 35
Olympic sports Athletics Carl Lewis 1961 8 1 1 10
Archery Richard McKinney 1953 3 0 0 3
Artistic Gymnastics Vitaly Scherbo 1972 12 7 4 23
Badminton Park Joo-bong 1964 5 0 2 7
Equestrian Reiner Klimke 1936-1999 6 0 0 6
Fencing Aladár Gerevich 1910-1991 14 1 3 18
Shooting Konrad Stäheli 1866-1931 41 17 10 67
Table tennis Viktor Barna 1911-1972 22 7 12 41
Tennis Ivan Lendl 1960 5 4 3 11
Triathlon Simon Lessing 1971 4 2 1 7
Weightlifting Naim Süleymanoğlu 1967 7 1 0 8
Team sports Baseball Pedro Luis Lazo 1973 7 2 0 3
Basketball Krešimir Ćosić 1948-1995 2 2 0 4
Beach volleyball Emanuel Rego 1973 2 1 0 3
Curling Randy Ferbey 1959 4 1 0 5
Field hockey Akhtar Rasool 1954 3 1 0 4
Handball Didier Dinart 1977 3 0 2 5
Ice Hockey Vladislav Tretiak 1914-1992 10 1 2 13
Football Pelè 1942 3 0 0 3
Volleyball Marco Bracci
Andrea Gardini
Andrea Giani
Ferdinando De Giorgi
1966
1965
1970
1961
3 0 0 0
Waterpolo Salvador Gómez
Jesús Rollán
1968
1968-2006
2 2 0 4

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