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Virén vs Keino

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
VirénWinner
85.7

Virén wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Keino
84.8

Keino wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/lasse-viren-vs-kipchoge-keino

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇫🇮 Lasse Virén
85.7

Virén leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Doubled at 5,000m and 10,000m at both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.

1. Lasse Virén
85.7
2. Kipchoge Keino
84.8

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. 🇰🇪 Kipchoge Keino5 seasons played · career day 2,55615 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇫🇮 Lasse Virén5 seasons played · career day 2,5552 major golds
-86.7% vs Keino at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇫🇮 Virén000024
🇰🇪 Keino0000821

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.

MetricVirénRetiredKeinoRetired
Olympic golds42
World records22
Olympic doubles2
European medals2
10,000m best (min)27.65
Olympic medals4
Commonwealth golds2
1500m best (sec)214.9
Dominance w25%8886
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%7274
Honours w20%8886
Statistics w15%8686

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Virén85.7
Keino84.8
The people
Virén
Keino

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