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Thompson vs Van Almsick

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
ThompsonWinner
88.6

Thompson wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours

Van Almsick
88.0

Van Almsick wins: Peak, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Swimming

Shareable URL · /compare/jenny-thompson-vs-franziska-van-almsick

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Jenny Thompson
88.6

Thompson leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Twelve-time Olympic medallist and one of the most decorated swimmers in history.

1. Jenny Thompson
88.6
2. Franziska van Almsick
88.0

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. 🇩🇪 Franziska van Almsick5 seasons played · career day 2,191599.1 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Jenny Thompson5 seasons played · career day 1,82517 major golds
-97.2% vs Van Almsick at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Thompson00261731
🇩🇪 Van Almsick000119.9478.7960.1

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.

MetricThompsonRetiredVan AlmsickRetired
Olympic gold medals8
Olympic medals1210
World Championship golds93
Olympic Games contested4
World records5
European titles18
200 m freestyle world records2
200 m freestyle best118
Dominance w25%8684
Peak w20%9094
Longevity w20%8684
Honours w20%9288
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Thompson88.6
Van Almsick88.0
The people
Thompson
Van Almsick

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Make your case for Thompson vs Van Almsick. 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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