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Salnikov vs McKeon

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
SalnikovWinner
87.1

Salnikov wins: Dominance, Longevity

McKeon
87.0

McKeon wins: Honours

Candidates
Locked to Swimming

Shareable URL · /compare/vladimir-salnikov-vs-emma-mckeon

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇷🇺 Vladimir Salnikov
87.1

Salnikov leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. First man under 15 minutes for 1500m freestyle, with four Olympic golds.

1. Vladimir Salnikov
87.1
2. Emma McKeon
87.0

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 season
1. 🇦🇺 Emma McKeon5 seasons played · career day 2,55622 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇷🇺 Vladimir Salnikov5 seasons played · career day 2,19114 major golds
-36.4% vs McKeon at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇷🇺 Salnikov0001821
🇦🇺 McKeon0000734

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.

MetricSalnikovRetiredMcKeonRetired
Olympic golds46
World records12
World titles4
European titles5
1500m best (min)14.9
Olympic medals14
World Championship medals20
Commonwealth golds11
100m freestyle best (sec)51.96
Dominance w25%8886
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%8078
Honours w20%8690
Statistics w15%9090

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Salnikov87.1
McKeon87.0
The people
Salnikov
McKeon

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Make your case for Salnikov vs McKeon. 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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