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Kipyegon vs Defar

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
KipyegonWinner
89.5

Kipyegon wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics

Defar
88.3

Defar wins: Longevity

Candidates
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Shareable URL · /compare/faith-kipyegon-vs-meseret-defar

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇰🇪 Faith Kipyegon
89.5

Kipyegon leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Three straight Olympic 1500 m golds and world records at 1500 m, mile and 5000 m.

1. Faith Kipyegon
89.5
2. Meseret Defar
88.3

Category breakdown

Season form · Major golds per season

Career timeline · Major golds 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 · Major golds per season
1. 🇰🇪 Faith Kipyegon5 seasons played · career day 3,2861,179.6 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇪🇹 Meseret Defar5 seasons played · career day 2,92171.5 major golds
-93.9% vs Kipyegon at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇰🇪 Kipyegon00002391,179.59
🇪🇹 Defar000028.7385.75

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricKipyegonActiveDefarRetired
Olympic golds32
World Championship golds32
World records35
1500 m world record (s)209.63
Mile world record (s)246.95
Diamond League titles5
World indoor titles5
5000m best (min)14.29
Dominance w25%9088
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%8284
Honours w20%9088
Statistics w15%9290

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Kipyegon89.5
Defar88.3
The people
Kipyegon
Defar

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Make your case for Kipyegon vs Defar. 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.

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