Who is better, Cram or van Niekerk?
Steve Cram leads with a GOAT score of 83.0 against 82.9 for Wayde van Niekerk — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Cram vs van Niekerk
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Steve Cram above Wayde van Niekerk: 83.0 vs 82.9. Steve Cram leads on Longevity. Wayde van Niekerk leads on Peak, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
CramWinner
83.0Cram wins: Longevity
van Niekerk
82.9van Niekerk wins: Peak, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/steve-cram-vs-wayde-van-niekerk
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇬🇧 Steve Cram
83.0
Cram leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Steve Cram
2. Wayde van Niekerk
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index 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 · Form index per season1. 🇿🇦 Wayde van Niekerk5 seasons played · career day 3,286219.1 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇬🇧 Steve Cram5 seasons played · career day 2,55613 major golds
-94.1% vs van Niekerk at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 Cram | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22 |
| 🇿🇦 van Niekerk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44.38 | 219.09 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | CramRetired | van NiekerkActive |
|---|---|---|
| World Championship golds | 1 | 2 |
| World records | 3 | 1 |
| European golds | 2 | — |
| Commonwealth golds | 2 | — |
| Mile best (sec) | 226.31 | — |
| Olympic golds | — | 1 |
| 400 m world record (s) | — | 43.03 |
| Sub-44 races | — | 7 |
| 200 m best (s) | — | 19.84 |
| Dominance w25% | 82 | 82 |
| Peak w20% | 90 | 92 |
| Longevity w20% | 76 | 72 |
| Honours w20% | 82 | 82 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 88 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Cram83.0
van Niekerk82.9
FAQ
Where does van Niekerk beat Cram?
van Niekerk scores higher on peak, statistics. Cram leads on longevity.
How is the Cram vs van Niekerk score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Cram: 83.0, van Niekerk: 82.9.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Cram vs van Niekerk. 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.