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Johnson vs Kostadinova

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
KostadinovaWinner
89.9

Kostadinova wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Statistics

Johnson
88.5

Johnson wins: Honours

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/michael-johnson-vs-stefka-kostadinova

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇧🇬 Stefka Kostadinova
89.9

Kostadinova leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Her 2.09m world record from 1987 still stands.

1. Stefka Kostadinova
89.9
2. Michael Johnson
88.5

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. 🇺🇸 Michael Johnson5 seasons played · career day 2,556219.5 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇧🇬 Stefka Kostadinova5 seasons played · career day 2,55610.2 major golds
-95.4% vs Johnson at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Johnson000088.38306.33
🇧🇬 Kostadinova00006.1114.27

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.

MetricJohnsonRetiredKostadinovaRetired
Olympic golds41
World Championship golds82
World records21
400 m personal best43.18
200 m personal best19.32
Undefeated 400 m finals54
World Indoor golds5
Best jump (m)2.09
Dominance w25%8890
Peak w20%9394
Longevity w20%8286
Honours w20%9088
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Kostadinova89.9
Johnson88.5
The people
Johnson
Kostadinova

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