Who is better, Bikila or Virén?
Abebe Bikila leads with a GOAT score of 85.8 against 85.7 for Lasse Virén — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bikila vs Virén
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Abebe Bikila above Lasse Virén: 85.8 vs 85.7. Abebe Bikila leads on Dominance. Lasse Virén leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BikilaWinner
85.8Bikila wins: Dominance
Virén
85.7Virén wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/abebe-bikila-vs-lasse-viren
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇪🇹 Abebe Bikila
85.8
Bikila leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Abebe Bikila
2. Lasse Virén
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 season1. 🇪🇹 Abebe Bikila5 seasons played · career day 3,2876 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇫🇮 Lasse Virén5 seasons played · career day 2,5552 major golds
-66.7% vs Bikila at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇪🇹 Bikila | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 🇫🇮 Virén | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | BikilaRetired | VirénRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 2 | 4 |
| Marathon world bests | 2 | — |
| Olympic marathon titles in a row | 2 | — |
| Career marathon wins | 12 | — |
| Best marathon time (min) | 132.2 | — |
| World records | — | 2 |
| Olympic doubles | — | 2 |
| European medals | — | 2 |
| 10,000m best (min) | — | 27.65 |
| Dominance w25% | 90 | 88 |
| Peak w20% | 94 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 70 | 72 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 88 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 86 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bikila85.8
Virén85.7
FAQ
Where does Virén beat Bikila?
Virén scores higher on longevity. Bikila leads on dominance.
How is the Bikila vs Virén score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bikila: 85.8, Virén: 85.7.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bikila vs Virén. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.