Nelson v Cantwell v Godina v Hoffa

[Jon]

Anyone got any stats on all the head-to-head-to-head-to-heads between these four? Such a great 4-way rivalry - seems to be a different result every time they meet. Cantwell dominated in early '04 and Godina did the same in early '05 but come the majors, Nelson is always the one who produces the goods. Hoffa, meanwhile, tends to pull a gudden' out of the bag from time to time but is yet to win something major outdoors.

Well curiosity got the better of me and I looked up all the competitions (turns out there's 12 in all) in which all four guys have competed. Occasionally, some other athletes would get in the way of the competition standings, but I ignored those and based the results (below) on who was the best of the four in each comp, using the simple scoring of: 1st = 4pts, 2nd = 3pts, 3rd=2, etc, etc.

Venue, year | 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th
Stanford '03: Godina, Hoffa, Nelson, Cantwell
Luzern '03: Nelson, Hoffa, Godina, Cantwell
Praha '03: Godina, Nelson, Cantwell, Hoffa
Carson '04: Cantwell, Hoffa, Godina, Nelson
Atlanta '04: Cantwell, Hoffa, Godina, Nelson
Sacto '04: Nelson, Hoffa, Godina, Cantwell
Boston '05: Nelson, Cantwell, Godina, Hoffa
New Y '05: Hoffa, Godina, Nelson, Cantwell
Boston '05: Godina, Hoffa, Nelson, Cantwell
Carson '05: Cantwell, Nelson, Godina, Hoffa
London '05: Cantwell, Hoffa, Godina, Nelson
Boston '06: Hoffa, Cantwell, Nelson, Godina

Total scores:
Hoffa - 32
Godina - 30
Nelson - 29
Cantwell - 29


Couldn't be much closer than that, and it's quite surprising given that Hoffa has the shortest PR of all four and the least amount of wins from all twelve competitions. But it shows that consistency pays off. In nine of the twelve competitions, Hoffa was either the best or second-best of the bunch. While the inconsistent Cantwell had the most wins, he also had the most fourth-place finishes. Nelson is the most spread-out, as he almost has an equal number of 1sts, 2nds, 3rds and 4ths, while Godina is most familiar with finishing 3rd of the four (as he did in 7 of the 12 comps). Today was the first time that Godina had ever finished last of the bunch.

[tafnut]

Good stuff Jon. Your reporter instincts are sharpening up nicely!

[Jon]

Re: Nelson v Cantwell v Godina v Hoffa

Couldn't be much closer than that

Just thought - if Hoffa had thrown 9cm less tonight, the scores would be completely even at 30-all. THAT's how close it is between them! :shock:

[26mi235]

In 2003 Cantwell was not quite yet on par with the other three, he had caught up by 2004.