Who is better, Bugajenkovs or Nicolai?
Ivans Bugajenkovs leads with a GOAT score of 87.6 against 87.4 for Paolo Nicolai — a gap of 0.2 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bugajenkovs vs Nicolai
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Ivans Bugajenkovs above Paolo Nicolai: 87.6 vs 87.4. Ivans Bugajenkovs leads on Honours, Dominance. Paolo Nicolai leads on Longevity, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BugajenkovsWinner
87.6Bugajenkovs wins: Dominance, Honours
Nicolai
87.4Nicolai wins: Longevity, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to VolleyballShareable URL · /compare/ivans-bugajenkovs-vs-paolo-nicolai
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇱🇻 Ivans Bugajenkovs
87.6
Bugajenkovs leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Ivans Bugajenkovs
2. Paolo Nicolai
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. 🇱🇻 Ivans Bugajenkovs5 seasons played · career day 1,826364 titles
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇮🇹 Paolo Nicolai5 seasons played · career day 1,826325 titles
-10.7% vs Bugajenkovs at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇱🇻 Bugajenkovs | 0 | 0 | 58 | 123 | 276 | 690 |
| 🇮🇹 Nicolai | 0 | 0 | 55 | 115 | 250 | 675 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | BugajenkovsRetired | NicolaiActive |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic gold medals | 2 | — |
| World Championship gold medals | 1 | — |
| European titles | 2 | 2 |
| Soviet league titles | 6 | — |
| National team years | 11 | — |
| Olympic medals | — | 1 |
| World Tour titles | — | 8 |
| World Championship medals | — | 1 |
| Olympic appearances | — | 4 |
| Dominance w25% | 86 | 84 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 92 |
| Longevity w20% | 80 | 86 |
| Honours w20% | 94 | 88 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 88 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bugajenkovs87.6
Nicolai87.4
FAQ
Where does Nicolai beat Bugajenkovs?
Nicolai scores higher on statistics, longevity. Bugajenkovs leads on dominance, honours.
How is the Bugajenkovs vs Nicolai score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bugajenkovs: 87.6, Nicolai: 87.4.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bugajenkovs vs Nicolai. 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.