Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 72
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 0 | |
| 1972 | 2 | |
| 1973 | 0 | |
| 1974 | 0 | |
| 1975 | 0 | |
| 1976 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 0 | |
| 1978 | 0 | |
| 1979 | 0 | |
| 1980 | 0 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- IOC
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Lasse Virén ranks #63 in Athletics
Lasse Virén ranks 63rd among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 506th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 85.7 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 94, Longevity 72, Honours 88, 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 1969–1980 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1972, which sets the Peak component at 94. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 4, world records 2, olympic doubles 2, european medals 2.
Immediately ahead sits Kirani James on 83.7, a gap of -2.0 points. Directly behind is Yulimar Rojas on 85.5. 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.
Lasse Virén GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Virén stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak94/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1972. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity72/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 11 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 72/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top Virén comparisons
Lasse Virén — frequently asked
- Is Lasse Virén the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Lasse Virén ranks 63rd in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 85.7, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Lasse Virén's GOAT Score?
- 85.7 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 72 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Lasse Virén rank all time?
- 506th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 63rd within Athletics.
- Lasse Virén vs Kirani James: who ranks higher?
- Lasse Virén, on 85.7 against Kirani James's 83.7 — a margin of 2.0 points.