Who is better, Bolt or James?
Usain Bolt leads with a GOAT score of 93.2 against 83.7 for Kirani James — a gap of 9.5 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bolt vs James
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Usain Bolt above Kirani James: 93.2 vs 83.7. Usain Bolt leads on Dominance, Honours, Peak. Kirani James leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BoltWinner
93.2Bolt wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics
James
83.7James wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/bolt-vs-kirani-james
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇯🇲 Usain Bolt
93.2
Bolt leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Usain Bolt
2. Kirani James
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
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇯🇲 Usain Bolt224 major golds
4 seasons by age 21 · 56 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for James — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bolt93.2
James83.7
FAQ
Where does James beat Bolt?
James scores higher on longevity. Bolt leads on peak, dominance, honours, statistics.
How is the Bolt vs James score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bolt: 93.2, James: 83.7.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bolt vs James. 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.