Who is better, Waern or van Niekerk?
Dan Waern leads with a GOAT score of 82.9 against 82.9 for Wayde van Niekerk — a gap of 0.0 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Waern vs van Niekerk
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently scores Dan Waern and Wayde van Niekerk level at 82.9. Dan Waern leads on Longevity. Wayde van Niekerk leads on Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
WaernWinner
82.9Waern wins: Longevity
van Niekerk
82.9van Niekerk wins: Honours
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/dan-waern-vs-wayde-van-niekerk
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇸🇪 Dan Waern
82.9
Waern leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Dan Waern
2. Wayde van Niekerk
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. 🇸🇪 Dan Waern5 seasons played · career day 1,825327 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇿🇦 Wayde van Niekerk5 seasons played · career day 3,286219.1 major golds
-33.0% vs Waern at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇸🇪 Waern | 0 | 0 | 45 | 100 | 327 | 579 |
| 🇿🇦 van Niekerk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44.38 | 219.09 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | WaernRetired | van NiekerkActive |
|---|---|---|
| World records set | 2 | — |
| European Championship medals | 1 | — |
| Swedish titles | 8 | — |
| Mile personal best in seconds | 2,374 | — |
| Sub-four-minute miles | 5 | — |
| Olympic golds | — | 1 |
| World Championship golds | — | 2 |
| 400 m world record (s) | — | 43.03 |
| World records | — | 1 |
| Sub-44 races | — | 7 |
| 200 m best (s) | — | 19.84 |
| Dominance w25% | 82 | 82 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 92 |
| Longevity w20% | 74 | 72 |
| Honours w20% | 80 | 82 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 88 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Waern82.9
van Niekerk82.9
FAQ
Where does van Niekerk beat Waern?
van Niekerk scores higher on honours. Waern leads on longevity.
How is the Waern vs van Niekerk score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Waern: 82.9, van Niekerk: 82.9.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Waern vs van Niekerk. 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.