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Szewińska vs Nurmi

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
NurmiWinner
92.1

Nurmi wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Szewińska
91.1

Szewińska wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/irena-szewinska-vs-paavo-nurmi

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇫🇮 Paavo Nurmi
92.1

Nurmi leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. The Flying Finn: nine Olympic golds and 22 official world records.

1. Paavo Nurmi
92.1
2. Irena Szewińska
91.1

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. 🇵🇱 Irena Szewińska5 seasons played · career day 3,28722 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇫🇮 Paavo Nurmi5 seasons played · career day 1,82621 major golds
-4.5% vs Szewińska at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇵🇱 Szewińska0000022
🇫🇮 Nurmi00371637

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.

MetricSzewińskaRetiredNurmiRetired
Olympic golds39
Olympic medals712
World records1022
European titles5
400m best (sec)49.28
Golds at one Games5
Unbeaten run (races)121
Distances held records at8
Dominance w25%9093
Peak w20%9495
Longevity w20%8886
Honours w20%9294
Statistics w15%9292

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Nurmi92.1
Szewińska91.1
The people
Szewińska
Nurmi

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