van Niekerk vs Bikila
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Bikila wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours
van Niekerk wins: Longevity, Statistics
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Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Bikila leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Won the 1960 Olympic marathon barefoot, then defended the title in 1964.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇿🇦 van Niekerk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44.38 | 219.09 |
| 🇪🇹 Bikila | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
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 | van NiekerkActive | BikilaRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 1 | 2 |
| World Championship golds | 2 | — |
| 400 m world record (s) | 43.03 | — |
| World records | 1 | — |
| Sub-44 races | 7 | — |
| 200 m best (s) | 19.84 | — |
| Marathon world bests | — | 2 |
| Olympic marathon titles in a row | — | 2 |
| Career marathon wins | — | 12 |
| Best marathon time (min) | — | 132.2 |
| Dominance w25% | 82 | 90 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 72 | 70 |
| Honours w20% | 82 | 88 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 86 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
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