Gay vs Koch
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Koch wins: Dominance, Honours, Statistics
Gay wins: Longevity
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Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Koch leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Her 47.60 for 400m from 1985 remains the world record.
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| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Gay | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 17 |
| 🇩🇪 Koch | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 28 |
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.
| Metric | GayRetired | KochRetired |
|---|---|---|
| World Championship golds | 3 | 3 |
| 100 m personal best | 9.69 | — |
| 200 m personal best | 19.58 | — |
| US national titles | 6 | — |
| World Championship medals | 4 | — |
| World records | — | 16 |
| Olympic golds | — | 1 |
| European golds | — | 8 |
| 400m best (sec) | — | 47.6 |
| Dominance w25% | 86 | 90 |
| Peak w20% | 94 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 78 | 70 |
| Honours w20% | 84 | 86 |
| Statistics w15% | 90 | 92 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
What do you think?
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