The Thrower's Page
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Scoring Criteria
for the combination throwing events listsFor each event, the thrower's preformance is divided by the world record. Then for each combination list, the throwers are ranked according to lowest scoring event.
FAQ: Why rank according to the lowest event instead of the average of all events? Answer: there are two main reasons. 1) The lowest scoring event ranking provides the most differentiation across combo lists and from the single-event performance lists, and 2) It is more practical. For example, John Godina is the #1 shot-disc doubler, and deserves to be recognized as such. If he happens to have thrown the javelin only 14 meters, he would make the shot-disc-javelin list in an average-scoring scenario. I submit that 1) we should not be wasting time recognizing Godina as a top shot-disc-javelin tripler, and 2) performance lists are not deep enough to find all of these low performances anyway, so I could not generate a comprehensive list. Godina gets his due recognition in the S-D list, and others that are truly good in all thre events get listed in the S-D-J list.
There are two sets of lists. The current-WR list uses the present world records for everyone regardless of the year of the performance. This list favors more recent performances. For the indexed-WR list, the distance thrown is divided by the world record or world best as of January 1 in the year of the performance. This criteria tends to favor early 20th century performaers.
The distances listed for the athlete are always seasonal bests, but not necessarily personal records. If the world record was lower in a previous year, it is possible that the athlete will score higher using a previous seasonal best which is lower that his/her personal record.
For the indexed-WR list, the following arbitrary standards were created when world bests were missing: The 1999 new women's javelin standard is based on 92% of the world record as of 1998 with the older javelin; The 1991 thicker tail javelin standard is based on 88% of the world record as of 1990 with the old javelin. Pre-1970 men's and pre-1986 women's indoor shot standards are based on 99% of the corresponding years' outdoor records. Pre-1973 men's and pre-1990 women's weight standards are based on 28.5% and 30% of the corresponding years' hammer records, respectively.
For the current-WR list, the following adjustments are made for old javelins: Old men's javelin throws (up to 1985) are multiplied by .90, and 1991 rough-tail javelin throws are multiplied by .95. Women's old javelin marks before 1999 is multiplied by .95, and marks before 1991 are multiplied by .90. Note all 1999 women's javelin marks before April 1 are considered old, and some (NCAA competition) marks April-June 1999 are old (as indicated in the comment field).
For brevity, I have listed only the partial list. For a more complete list, refer to my Excel file.
BACK TO COMBINATION THROWING EVENTS LISTS
Major Data sources used to comile the lists:
Track and Field Statistics, by Michael Rabinovich, contains the main source for 19th century and early 20th century performances. His database contains yearly top 10 lists for most years since 1900 for men and since 1921 for women.
Peter Larsson's deep all-time performances lists helped me to identify many more modern-time multiple event throwers--especially the shot-discus combination.
Tilastopaja Oy, especially the athlete search tool, helped me to verify performances after I get a lead that a certain athlete has high performances in more than one throwing event.
TrackShark contains official performance lists of all collegiate divisions.
USATF, IAAF, and Track & Field News have performance lists.
LINKS:
Norwegian all-time best combinations, Kast (throwing events)