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Peirsol vs Peaty

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
PeirsolWinner
89.2

Peirsol wins: Honours

Peaty
88.7

Peaty wins: Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Swimming

Shareable URL · /compare/aaron-peirsol-vs-adam-peaty

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Aaron Peirsol
89.2

Peirsol leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Five Olympic golds and the long-standing 200m backstroke world record.

1. Aaron Peirsol
89.2
2. Adam Peaty
88.7

Category breakdown

Season form · Form index per season

Career timeline · Form index per season

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through season 5 · Form index per season
1. 🇺🇸 Aaron Peirsol5 seasons played · career day 2,191569.9 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇬🇧 Adam Peaty5 seasons played · career day 2,556287.6 major golds
-49.5% vs Peirsol at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Peirsol000115457.04906.65
🇬🇧 Peaty0000115.92401.87

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricPeirsolRetiredPeatyActive
Olympic golds53
World Championship golds128
World records135
200m backstroke best (sec)111.92
Olympic medals7
100 m breaststroke record (s)56.88
European golds16
Sub-58 swims20
Dominance w25%9090
Peak w20%9494
Longevity w20%8080
Honours w20%9288
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Peirsol89.2
Peaty88.7
The people
Peirsol
Peaty

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