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Bartels vs Holmes

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
HolmesWinner
83.6

Holmes wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Bartels
81.9

Bartels wins: Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/ralf-bartels-vs-kelly-holmes

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇬🇧 Kelly Holmes
83.6

Holmes leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Won the 800 m and 1500 m double at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

1. Kelly Holmes
83.6
2. Ralf Bartels
81.9

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. 🇬🇧 Kelly Holmes5 seasons played · career day 1,825394 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇩🇪 Ralf Bartels5 seasons played · career day 1,825278 major golds
-29.4% vs Holmes at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇩🇪 Bartels004595278597
🇬🇧 Holmes0070148394706

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.

MetricBartelsRetiredHolmesRetired
World Championship medals13
European Championship medals2
German titles5
Personal best in centimetres2,140
Olympic finals2
Olympic gold medals2
Olympic medals3
Commonwealth Games golds2
British record 800 m1.563
Dominance w25%7682
Peak w20%8894
Longevity w20%8476
Honours w20%7884
Statistics w15%8682

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Holmes83.6
Bartels81.9
The people
Bartels
Holmes

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Make your case for Bartels vs Holmes. 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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