Auditing the scoring tables · 16 events · 2023 and 2024

Equal points, unequal events

5000 mHighest top-30 median, 24.5 above the norm1272

JavelinLowest top-30 median, 44 below the norm1203.5

Gap 68.5 pointsKruskal-Wallis H = 236, p < 10⁻⁴⁰

World Athletics points are meant to make a 1200-point shot put worth the same as a 1200-point 100 m. I scraped 6,400 performances from the 2023 and 2024 top lists (top 100 per event, men and women), each with the points it was awarded, and compared the median of each event's 30 highest scores. Level tables would put those medians close together. They spread over 68.5 points, with running events at the top and jumps and throws at the bottom.

Every event against the norm

Horizontal bar chart of each event's top-30 median WA score minus the cross-event norm of 1247.5, from the 5000 m at about plus 24 down to the javelin at minus 44. Running events sit above zero and most jumps and throws below. — Deviation of each event's top-30 median from the median of all 16 event medians (1247.5). Bar labels are rounded to whole points.

What it shows, and what it doesn't

An event's elite scores depend on the table's calibration and on how deep the current field is. A thinly contested event shows a lower ceiling even under a fair table. This study can't separate the two, so the claim is that equal points don't currently mean equal elite standing. It does not show the tables are miscoded.

The top 30 pools men and women, and two seasons is a short window. Checking each table against a fixed frontier, such as the world record, would be the next step.

The full writeup has the result sheet for all 16 events and the box plots.