Who is better, Owens or Powell?
Mike Powell leads with a GOAT score of 86.6 against 86.3 for Jesse Owens — a gap of 0.3 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Owens vs Powell
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Mike Powell above Jesse Owens: 86.6 vs 86.3. Mike Powell leads on Longevity, Statistics. Jesse Owens leads on Honours, Dominance, Peak.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
PowellWinner
86.6Powell wins: Longevity, Statistics
Owens
86.3Owens wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/jesse-owens-vs-mike-powell-lj
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Mike Powell
86.6
Powell leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Mike Powell
2. Jesse Owens
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. 🇺🇸 Jesse Owens5 seasons played · career day 2,19151.2 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Mike Powell5 seasons played · career day 1,8261 major golds
-98.0% vs Owens at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Owens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.3 | 30.7 | 61.6 |
| 🇺🇸 Powell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | OwensRetired | PowellRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 4 | — |
| World records set | 6 | — |
| NCAA titles | 8 | — |
| Long jump world record years | 25 | — |
| 100 m personal best | 10.2 | — |
| Long jump best (m) | 8.13 | — |
| World record in metres | — | 8.95 |
| World Championship golds | — | 2 |
| Olympic silver medals | — | 2 |
| Years the world record has stood | — | 34 |
| US national titles | — | 4 |
| Dominance w25% | 90 | 86 |
| Peak w20% | 97 | 96 |
| Longevity w20% | 66 | 78 |
| Honours w20% | 90 | 84 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 90 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Powell86.6
Owens86.3
FAQ
Where does Owens beat Powell?
Owens scores higher on peak, dominance, honours. Powell leads on statistics, longevity.
How is the Owens vs Powell score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Owens: 86.3, Powell: 86.6.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Owens vs Powell. 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.