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≡ WHERE DOES 1:59:30 RANK? ≡
Kenyan star Sabastian Sawe’s 1:59:30 world marathon record at the London Marathon on Sunday has to be one of the greatest performances in the history of track & field.
Right?
Maybe not.
Although historic, Sawe’s breakthrough race does not compare well on the World Athletics Scoring Tables.
Although imperfect, these tables have long been a statistician’s model for comparing track & field performances across events. The current version is the 2025 edition, an update from 2022 and based on the work of Bulgarian engineer and statistician Dr. Bojidar Spiriev (1932-2010), whose original tables were published in 1982.
The tables assign points to various performances in 162 events, but warns, “Due to obvious biological differences, it is not proposed to fully compare men’s and women’s performances.”
So if we look only at the 20 men’s Olympic events plus the mile (walks and relays excluded), the top scorers are:
● 1. 1,365 pts: M JT: 98.48 m (323-1) by Jan Zelezny (CZE) 1996
● 2. 1,356 pts: M 100: 9.58 by Usain Bolt (JAM) 2009
● 3. 1,353 pts: M PV: 6.31 mi (20-8 1/2) by Mondo Duplantis (SWE) 2026
● 4. 1,351 pts: M 200: 19.19 by Usain Bolt (JAM) 2009
● 5. 1.347 pts: M DT: 75.56 m (247-11) by Mykolas Alekna (LTU) 2025
● 6. 1,346 pts: M LJ: 8.95 m (29-4 1/2) by Mike Powell (USA) 1991
● 7. 1,341 pts: M 400H: 45.94 by Karsten Warholm (NOR) 2021
● 8. 1,334 pts: M SP: 23.56 m (77-3 3/4) by Ryan Crouser (USA) 2023
● 9. 1,328 pts: M Mar: 1:59:30 by Sabastian Sawe (KEN) 2026
● 10. 1,321 pts: M 400: 43.03 by Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) 2016
That seems awfully low for Sawe, but there is a reason. In the 2022 tables, his 1:59:30 would have scored 1,341 points and ranked equal-seventh. But the 2025 edition preface notes:
“Due to the unprecedented fast improvement of the results in the marathon events, disproportions have occurred in the scoring tables. Therefore, the parameters had to be adjusted accordingly.”
This impacts the women’s list too, where fellow Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 from 2024 moved down from 1,339 points on the 2022 tables to 1,312 now. The top 10 women’s world records:
● 1. 1,382 pts: W DT: 76.80 m (252-0) by Gabrielle Reinsch (GDR) 1988
● 2. 1,372 pts: W SP: 22.63 m (74-3) by Natalia Lisovskaya (URS) 1987
● 3. 1,337 pts: W 400: 47.60 by Marita Koch (GDR) 1985
● 4. 1,333 pts: W LJ: 7.52 m (24-8 1/4) by Galina Chistyakova (URS) 1988
● 5. 1,331 pts: W Hep: 7,291 by Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) 1988
● 6=. 1,322 pts: W 1,500 m: 3:46.68 by Faith Kipyegon (KEN) 2025
● 6=. 1,322 pts: W 400H 50.37 by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) 2024
● 8. 1,319 pts: W HJ: 2.10 m (6-10 3/4) by Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) 2024
● 9. 1,317 pts: W Mile: 4:07.64, by Faith Kipyegon (KEN) 2023
● 10. 1,314 pts: W 100: 10.49 by Florence Griffith-Joyner (USA) 1988
Reinsch’s discus record was also discounted from the 2022 score of 1,390, but the others remained the same. Using the 2025 scoring tables, Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 now ranks 12th.
If we put the lists together – despite the warning in the tables – it looks like this, with Sawe’s 1:59:30 marathon ranking a combined 14th:
● 1. 1,382 pts: W DT: 76.80 m (252-0) by Gabrielle Reinsch (GDR) 1988
● 2. 1,372 pts: W SP: 22.63 m (74-3) by Natalia Lisovskaya (URS) 1987
● 3. 1,365 pts: M JT: 98.48 m (323-1) by Jan Zelezny (CZE) 1996
● 4. 1,356 pts: M 100: 9.58 by Usain Bolt (JAM) 2009
● 5. 1,353 pts: M PV: 6.31 mi (20-8 1/2) by Mondo Duplantis (SWE) 2026
● 6. 1,351 pts: M 200: 19.19 by Usain Bolt (JAM) 2009
● 7. 1.347 pts: M DT: 75.56 m (247-11) by Mykolas Alekna (LTU) 2025
● 8. 1,346 pts: M LJ: 8.95 m (29-4 1/2) by Mike Powell (USA) 1991
● 9. 1,341 pts: M 400H: 45.94 by Karsten Warholm (NOR) 2021
● 10. 1,334 pts: M SP: 23.56 m (77-3 3/4) by Ryan Crouser (USA) 2023
● 11. 1,337 pts: W 400: 47.60 by Marita Koch (GDR) in 1985
● 12. 1,333 pts: W LJ: 7.52 m (24-8 1/4), Galina Chistyakova (URS) 1988
● 13. 1,331 pts: W Hep: 7,291, Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) 1988
● 14. 1,328 pts: M Mar:1:59:30 by Sabastian Sawe (KEN) 2026
● 15=. 1,322 pts: W 1,500 m: 3:46.68 by Faith Kipyegon (KEN) 2025
● 15=. 1,322 pts: W 400H: 50.37 by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) 2024
So Sawe ranks 14th on the combined record comparison list. One thing the table so show is that Duplantis has only 4 1/4 inches to go to reach 6.42 m (21-0 3/4), which would give him 1,383 points and become the “best” world record of all (until the next revision)!
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