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Backley vs Barnes

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BackleyWinner
87.2

Backley wins: Longevity

Barnes
87.2

Barnes wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/steve-backley-vs-randy-barnes

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇬🇧 Steve Backley
87.2

Backley leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories. Three-time European champion and a two-time Olympic silver medallist.

1. Steve Backley
87.2
2. Randy Barnes
87.2

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. 🇬🇧 Steve Backley5 seasons played · career day 2,191441.3 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Randy Barnes5 seasons played · career day 2,556110.5 major golds
-75.0% vs Backley at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇬🇧 Backley00085.9268.34702.18
🇺🇸 Barnes000067.05153.35

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.

MetricBackleyRetiredBarnesRetired
European titles3
Olympic medals32
World records21
Javelin best91.46
Commonwealth titles3
Olympic golds1
Shot put best23.12
World indoor titles1
Dominance w25%8286
Peak w20%9296
Longevity w20%8876
Honours w20%8686
Statistics w15%9094

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Backley87.2
Barnes87.2
The people
Backley
Barnes

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Make your case for Backley vs Barnes. 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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