Does Indoor Track Matter?

Does Indoor Track Matter?

How much does indoor track matter, really? We went through the medalists from the Olympics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships to see what the relations

Aug 29, 2016 by Dennis Young
Does Indoor Track Matter?
How much does indoor track matter, really? We went through the medalists from the Olympics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships to see what the relationship between performances at the two events was. 

Only Matt Centrowitz, Omar McLeod, Michelle Carter, the American 4x400s, and Ashton Eaton won their events at world indoors and the Olympics. And Elaine Thompson, Bri Rollins, Ruth Beitia, Ekaterini Stefanidi won gold at the Olympics after medaling at world indoors. The rest of the Olympic gold medalists didn't even medal at world indoors.

27 of the 72 world indoor medalists (in events with Olympic analogues) medaled at the Olympics; almost the same amount, 24, didn't even make the Olympic final in their events. 

​Perhaps an even better indicator of indoor's relevance is how many Olympic medalists competed at world indoors. (Note: we're only counting the Olympic events that have world indoor counterparts.) 38 out of 72 Olympic medalists in those events did not even compete at world indoors. Curiously, out of the 34 Olympic medalists who did compete in Portland in March, a whopping 28 medaled! In these events, only Mutaz Essa Barshim, Jeff Henderson, Eliza McCartney, Tori Bowie, Thago Braz Da Silva, and the Jamaican's women's 4x400 medaled at the Olympics after competing at world indoors without medaling.

Check out the full breakdown below.

World Indoor Medalists At The Olympics

World indoor medalists How'd they do at the Olympics?
Men's 60m 100m
Trayvon Bromell 8
Asafa Powell DNQ
Ramon Gittens Out in prelims
Women's 60m 100m
Barbara Pierre DNQ
Dafne Schippers 5
Elaine Thompson 1
Men's 400m 400m
Pavel Maslak Out in semis
Abdelalelah Haroun Out in semis
Deon Lendore Out in prelims
Women's 400m 400m
Kemi Adekoya Out in semis
Ashley Spencer DNQ
Quanera Hayes DNQ
Men's 800m 800m
Boris Berian 8th
Antoine Gakeme Out in prelims
Erik Sowinski DNQ
Women's 800m 800m
Francine Niyonsaba 2
Ajee' Wilson Out in semis
Margaret Wambui 3
Men's 1500m 1500m
Matt Centrowitz 1
Jakub Holusa Out in semis
Nick Willis 3
Women's 1500m 1500m
Sifan Hassan 5
Dawit Seyaum 8
Gudaf Tsegay DNQ
Men's 60mH 110mH
Omar McLeod 1
Pascal Martinot-Lagarde 4
Dimitri Bascou 3
Women's 60mH 100mH
Nia Ali 2
Brianna Rollins 1
Tiffany Porter 7
Men's 4x400m 4x400m
USA 1
Bahamas 3
Trinidad and Tobago DQ
Women's 4x400m 4x400m
USA 1
Poland 7
Romania Out in semis
Men's HJ HJ
Gianmarco Tamberi Injured
Robert Grabarz 4
Erik Kynard 6
Women's HJ HJ
Vashti Cunningham 13
Ruth Beitia 1
Kamila Licwinko 9
Men's PV PV
Renaud Lavillenie 2
Sam Kendricks 3
Piotr Lisek 4
Women's PV PV
Jenn Suhr 7
Sandi Morris 2
Ekaterini Stefanidi 1
Men's LJ LJ
Marquis Dendy Injured
Fabrice Lapierre 10
Changzhou Huang 11
Women's LJ LJ
Brittney Reese 2
Ivan Spanovic 3
Lorraine Ugen 11
Men's TJ TJ
Dong Bin 3
Max Hess Out in prelims
Benjamin Compaore 10
Women's TJ ​TJ
Yulimar Rojas 2
Kristin Gierisch 11
Paraskevi Papachristou 8
Men's SP SP
Tomas Walsh 3
Andrei Gag Out in prelims
Filip Mihaljevic Out in prelims
Women's SP SP
Michelle Carter 1
Anita Marton 3
Valerie Adams 2
Heptathlon Decathlon
Ashton Eaton 1
Oleksiy Kasyanov DNF
Mathias Brugger DNQ
Pentathlon Heptathlon
Brianne Theisen-Eaton 3
Anastasiya Mokhnyuk DNQ
Alina Fyodorova 28

Olympians At World Indoors

Olympic medalists How'd they do at world indoors?
Men's 100m 60m
Usain Bolt DNC
Justin Gatlin DNC
Andre De Grasse DNC
Women's 100m 60m
Elaine Thompson 3
Tori Bowie 6
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce DNC
Men's 400m 400m
Wayde van Niekerk DNC
Kirani James DNC
LaShawn Merritt DNC
Women's 400m 400m
Shaunae Miller DNC
Allyson Felix DNC
Shericka Jackson DNC
Men's 800m 800m
David Rudisha DNC
Taoufik Makhloufi DNC
Clayton Murphy Ran at NCAAs
Women's 800m 800m
Caster Semenya DNC
Francine Niyonsaba 1
Margaret Wambui 3
Men's 1500m 1500m
Matt Centrowitz 1
Taoufik Makhloufi DNC
Nick Willis 3
Women's 1500m 1500m
Faith Kipyegon DNC
Genzebe Dibaba 1 (3K)
Jenny Simpson DNC
Men's 110mH 60mH
Omar McLeod 1
Orlando Ortega DNC
Dimitri Bascou 3
Women's 100H 60mH
Brianna Rollins 2
Nia Ali 1
Kristin Castlin DNC
Men's 4x400m 4x400m
USA 1
Jamaica 4
Bahamas 2
Women's 4x400m 4x400m
USA 1
Jamaica DNF in final
Great Britain DNC
Men's HJ HJ
Derek Drouin DNC
Mutaz Essa Barshim 4
Bohdan Bondarenko DNC
Women's HJ HJ
Ruth Beitia 2
Mirela Demireva DNC
Blanka Vlasic DNC
Men's PV PV
Thago Braz Da Silva 12
Renaud Lavillenie 1
Sam Kendricks 2
Women's PV PV
Ekaterini Stefanidi 3
Sandi Morris 2
Eliza McCartney 5
Men's LJ LJ
Jeff Henderson 4
Luvo Manyonga DNC
Greg Rutherford DNC
Women's LJ LJ
Tianna Bartoletta DNC
Brittney Reese 1
Ivan Spanovic 2
Men's TJ TJ
Christian Taylor DNC
Will Claye DNC
Dong Bin 1
Women's TJ TJ
Caterine Ibarguen DNC
Yulimar Rojas 1
Olga Rypakova DNC
Men's SP SP
Ryan Crouser DNC
Joe Kovacs DNC
Tomas Walsh 1
Women's SP SP
Michelle Carter 1
Valerie Adams 3
Anita Marton 2
Decathlon Heptathlon
Ashton Eaton 1
Kevin Mayer DNC
Damian Warner DNC
Heptathlon Pentathlon
Nafissatou Thiam DNC
Jessica Ennis-Hill DNC
Brianne Theisen-Eaton 1