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The 23 Greatest Track and Field Athletes of All Time

By YPB Team

Sprinters, throwers and marathoners are measured here against each other, which is exactly the comparison their stopwatches can't make.

  1. Al Oerter — ranked #11
    Al Oerter
    American discus thrower who won four Olympics in a row from 1956 to 1968.
    1000pts
  2. Michael Johnson — ranked #22
    Michael Johnson
    American who won the 200 m and 400 m double at the 1996 Olympics in gold spikes.
    810pts
  3. Usain Bolt — ranked #33
    Usain Bolt
    Jamaican sprinter who still holds the 100 m and 200 m world records set in 2009.
    783pts
  4. Florence Griffith Joyner — ranked #44
    Florence Griffith Joyner
    Flo-Jo, whose 1988 world records in the 100 m and 200 m still stand.
    762pts
  5. Allyson Felix — ranked #55
    Allyson Felix
    American sprinter with more Olympic track medals than any other woman.
    724pts
  6. Sergey Bubka — ranked #66
    Sergey Bubka
    Ukrainian pole vaulter who set 35 world records and was the first to clear six metres, in 1985.
    707pts
  7. Eliud Kipchoge — ranked #77
    Eliud Kipchoge
    Kenyan marathoner and two-time Olympic champion who ran the first sub-two-hour marathon, in an unofficial race.
    656pts
  8. Mondo Duplantis — ranked #88
    Mondo Duplantis
    Swedish pole vaulter who broke Bubka's 26-year-old outdoor record in 2020 and keeps raising the world record a centimetre at a time.
    656pts
  9. Paavo Nurmi — ranked #99
    Paavo Nurmi
    The Flying Finn, winner of nine Olympic golds in distance running in the 1920s.
    647pts
  10. Bob Beamon — ranked #1010
    Bob Beamon
    His 8.90 m long jump at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics beat the world record by 55 cm.
    647pts
  11. Yelena Isinbayeva — ranked #1111
    Yelena Isinbayeva
    Pole vaulter who was the first woman to clear five metres, in 2005.
    647pts
  12. Edwin Moses — ranked #1212
    Edwin Moses
    400 m hurdler who went nearly ten years unbeaten in the event.
    579pts
  13. Kenenisa Bekele — ranked #1313
    Kenenisa Bekele
    Ethiopian who held the 5,000 m and 10,000 m world records for more than 15 years.
    579pts
  14. Jesse Owens — ranked #1414
    Jesse Owens
    Won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
    502pts
  15. Jackie Joyner-Kersee — ranked #1515
    Jackie Joyner-Kersee
    American heptathlete and long jumper whose heptathlon world record has stood since 1988.
    502pts
  16. Jan Železný — ranked #1616
    Jan Železný
    Czech javelin thrower with three Olympic golds and a world record from 1996.
    413pts
  17. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone — ranked #1717
    Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
    American hurdler who has broken the 400 m hurdles world record again and again.
    413pts
  18. Haile Gebrselassie — ranked #1818
    Haile Gebrselassie
    Ethiopian distance runner who broke more than 20 world records from 5,000 m to the marathon.
    312pts
  19. Carl Lewis — ranked #1919
    Carl Lewis
    American sprinter and long jumper with nine Olympic gold medals.
    312pts
  20. Faith Kipyegon — ranked #2020
    Faith Kipyegon
    Kenyan middle-distance runner with three straight Olympic 1,500 m titles.
    312pts
  21. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce — ranked #2121
    Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
    Jamaican sprinter with two Olympic 100 m titles and five world titles in the event.
    193pts
  22. Emil Zátopek — ranked #2222
    Emil Zátopek
    Czech runner who won the 5,000 m, 10,000 m and marathon at the 1952 Olympics.
    193pts
  23. Hicham El Guerrouj — ranked #2323
    Hicham El Guerrouj
    Moroccan middle-distance runner whose 1,500 m and mile world records date from the late 1990s.
    193pts

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