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Walsh vs Burton

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
WalshWinner
82.1

Walsh wins: Peak, Honours, Statistics

Burton
82.0

Burton wins: Dominance, Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Swimming

Shareable URL · /compare/gretchen-walsh-vs-mike-burton

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Gretchen Walsh
82.1

Walsh leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. World record holder in the 100 m butterfly and an Olympic relay champion in 2024.

1. Gretchen Walsh
82.1
2. Mike Burton
82.0

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 season
1. 🇺🇸 Gretchen Walsh5 seasons played · career day 1,825420 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Mike Burton5 seasons played · career day 1,8258 major golds
-98.1% vs Walsh at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Walsh0064142420420
🇺🇸 Burton0013811

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.

MetricWalshActiveBurtonRetired
World records47
Olympic gold medals23
World Championship titles6
NCAA titles10
Global finals contested10
Pan American golds1
US national titles12
Olympic 1500 m titles2
Dominance w25%8284
Peak w20%9490
Longevity w20%6470
Honours w20%8482
Statistics w15%8884

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Walsh82.1
Burton82.0
The people
Walsh
Burton

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Make your case for Walsh vs Burton. 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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