Category profile
- Dominance
- 80
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 80
- Honours
- 84
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 44.36 | |
| 2012 | 43.94 | |
| 2013 | 43.74 | |
| 2014 | 43.97 | |
| 2015 | 43.78 | |
| 2016 | 43.76 | |
| 2017 | 44.5 | |
| 2018 | 44.08 | |
| 2019 | 44.19 | |
| 2020 | 43.88 | |
| 2021 | 44.02 | |
| 2022 | 44.3 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- IOC
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Kirani James ranks #62 in Athletics
Kirani James ranks 62nd among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 494th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 83.7 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 80, Peak 90, Longevity 80, Honours 84, Statistics 86. Those categories are normalised against the full Athletics reference universe of 309 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 2009–present with 12 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2017, which sets the Peak component at 90. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 90 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 1, olympic medals 3, world championship golds 1, 400m best (sec) 43.74.
Immediately ahead sits Marita Koch on 86.3, a gap of 2.6 points. Directly behind is Lasse Virén on 85.7. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Kirani James GOAT Score explained
- Dominance80/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far James stood above the field while competing. Scored 80/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2017. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity80/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 17 years of competition and 12 recorded seasons. Scored 80/100.
- Honours84/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 84/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top James comparisons
Kirani James — frequently asked
- Is Kirani James the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Kirani James ranks 62nd in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 83.7, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Kirani James's GOAT Score?
- 83.7 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 80 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 80 (20%), Honours 84 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Kirani James rank all time?
- 494th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 62nd within Athletics.
- Kirani James vs Marita Koch: who ranks higher?
- Marita Koch, on 86.3 against Kirani James's 83.7 — a margin of 2.6 points.