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Kostadinova vs Sotomayor

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
KostadinovaWinner
89.9

Kostadinova wins: no category outright

Sotomayor
89.9

Sotomayor wins: no category outright

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

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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 5 of 5 weighted categories. Her 2.09m world record from 1987 still stands.

1. Stefka Kostadinova
89.9
2. Javier Sotomayor
89.9

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. 🇨🇺 Javier Sotomayor5 seasons played · career day 3,28712.2 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇧🇬 Stefka Kostadinova5 seasons played · career day 2,55610.2 major golds
-16.4% vs Sotomayor at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇧🇬 Kostadinova00006.1114.27
🇨🇺 Sotomayor0000012.17

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.

MetricKostadinovaRetiredSotomayorRetired
World records1
Olympic golds11
World Championship golds22
World Indoor golds5
Best jump (m)2.09
High jump world record (m)2.45
World indoor golds4
Jumps over 2.40 m21
Pan American golds4
Dominance w25%9090
Peak w20%9494
Longevity w20%8686
Honours w20%8888
Statistics w15%9292

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Kostadinova89.9
Sotomayor89.9
The people
Kostadinova
Sotomayor

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Make your case for Kostadinova vs Sotomayor. 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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