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Isinbayeva vs Nurmi

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
NurmiWinner
92.1

Nurmi wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Isinbayeva
90.3

Isinbayeva wins: no category outright

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/yelena-isinbayeva-vs-paavo-nurmi

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇫🇮 Paavo Nurmi
92.1

Nurmi leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories. The Flying Finn: nine Olympic golds and 22 official world records.

1. Paavo Nurmi
92.1
2. Yelena Isinbayeva
90.3

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. 🇷🇺 Yelena Isinbayeva5 seasons played · career day 4,01624.6 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇫🇮 Paavo Nurmi5 seasons played · career day 1,82621 major golds
-14.6% vs Isinbayeva at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇷🇺 Isinbayeva0000014.75
🇫🇮 Nurmi00371637

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.

MetricIsinbayevaRetiredNurmiRetired
Olympic golds29
World Championship golds3
World records2822
Pole vault world record (m)5.06
World indoor golds4
Diamond League titles2
Olympic medals12
Golds at one Games5
Unbeaten run (races)121
Distances held records at8
Dominance w25%9093
Peak w20%9495
Longevity w20%8686
Honours w20%9094
Statistics w15%9292

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Nurmi92.1
Isinbayeva90.3
The people
Isinbayeva
Nurmi

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Make your case for Isinbayeva vs Nurmi. 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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