Who is better, Thompson or Waitz?
Grete Waitz leads with a GOAT score of 88.3 against 88.0 for Daley Thompson — a gap of 0.3 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Thompson vs Waitz
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Grete Waitz above Daley Thompson: 88.3 vs 88.0. Grete Waitz leads on Longevity, Statistics. Daley Thompson leads on Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
WaitzWinner
88.3Waitz wins: Longevity, Statistics
Thompson
88.0Thompson wins: Honours
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/daley-thompson-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. Daley Thompson
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. 🇬🇧 Daley Thompson5 seasons played · career day 2,55642,757 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇳🇴 Grete Waitz5 seasons played · career day 3,28615 major golds
-100.0% vs Thompson at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 Thompson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,812 | 60,270 |
| 🇳🇴 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 | ThompsonRetired | WaitzRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 2 | — |
| World Championship golds | 1 | 1 |
| World records | 4 | — |
| European golds | 2 | — |
| Commonwealth golds | 3 | — |
| Decathlon best | 8,847 | — |
| 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
Thompson88.0
FAQ
Where does Thompson beat Waitz?
Thompson scores higher on honours. Waitz leads on statistics, longevity.
How is the Thompson vs Waitz score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Thompson: 88.0, Waitz: 88.3.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Thompson vs Waitz. 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.