Who is better, Thorkildsen or Waitz?
Grete Waitz leads with a GOAT score of 88.3 against 88.0 for Andreas Thorkildsen — a gap of 0.3 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Thorkildsen vs Waitz
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Grete Waitz above Andreas Thorkildsen: 88.3 vs 88.0. Grete Waitz leads on Longevity, Statistics. Andreas Thorkildsen leads on Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
WaitzWinner
88.3Waitz wins: Longevity, Statistics
Thorkildsen
88.0Thorkildsen wins: Honours
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/andreas-thorkildsen-vs-grete-waitz
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇳🇴 Grete Waitz
88.3
Waitz leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Grete Waitz
2. Andreas Thorkildsen
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. 🇳🇴 Grete Waitz5 seasons played · career day 3,28615 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇳🇴 Andreas Thorkildsen5 seasons played · career day 1,8256 major golds
-60.0% vs Waitz at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇳🇴 Thorkildsen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 15 |
| 🇳🇴 Waitz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | ThorkildsenRetired | WaitzRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic gold medals | 2 | — |
| World Championship golds | 1 | 1 |
| European titles | 2 | — |
| Best throw in metres | 91.59 | — |
| Diamond League titles | 2 | — |
| New York Marathon wins | — | 9 |
| Olympic medals | — | 1 |
| World cross country titles | — | 5 |
| Marathon world records | — | 4 |
| Dominance w25% | 88 | 88 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 92 |
| Longevity w20% | 82 | 86 |
| Honours w20% | 90 | 86 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 90 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Waitz88.3
Thorkildsen88.0
FAQ
Where does Thorkildsen beat Waitz?
Thorkildsen scores higher on honours. Waitz leads on statistics, longevity.
How is the Thorkildsen vs Waitz score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Thorkildsen: 88.0, Waitz: 88.3.
What do you think?
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