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Koch vs Kiptanui

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
KochWinner
86.3

Koch wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics

Kiptanui
85.9

Kiptanui wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/marita-koch-vs-moses-kiptanui

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇩🇪 Marita Koch
86.3

Koch leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Her 47.60 for 400m from 1985 remains the world record.

1. Marita Koch
86.3
2. Moses Kiptanui
85.9

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. 🇰🇪 Moses Kiptanui5 seasons played · career day 2,1902,403.6 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇩🇪 Marita Koch5 seasons played · career day 1,82516 major golds
-99.3% vs Kiptanui at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇩🇪 Koch00251628
🇰🇪 Kiptanui0004851,925.973,861.56

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.

MetricKochRetiredKiptanuiRetired
World records164
Olympic golds1
World Championship golds33
European golds8
400m best (sec)47.6
Olympic medals1
Steeplechase best (sec)477.59
World titles in a row3
Dominance w25%9088
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%7074
Honours w20%8686
Statistics w15%9290

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Koch86.3
Kiptanui85.9
The people
Koch
Kiptanui

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