ProTriStats methodology
Field Strength
Field strength is context, not a trophy. It helps fans understand whether a win, podium, split or points score came against a deep field, a regional field, or a championship-level field.
- Field strength should be shown as contextual evidence beside results, not as an official race result.
- Men and women need separate field-strength values because the start lists and depth differ.
- A transparent rough score is better than a mysterious precise score.
- The score should never hide the actual field list; users should be able to inspect who raced.
What the score should reflect
A useful field-strength score should account for the number of starters, recent quality of athletes in the field, current rankings where available, depth beyond the podium contenders, and race tier.
A championship with many top-ranked starters should score higher than a small regional pro field, even if the winning time is slower because of heat, hills, wind or course conditions.
How to present it
Use field strength as a compact badge in race headers, then provide a short explanation such as "deep field" or "limited imported ranking coverage."
Avoid false precision. A 91 versus 92 score is less important than explaining the drivers: number of ranked athletes, top-10 starters, recent podium athletes and incomplete-data caveats.
What it should not do
Field strength should not claim that one athlete had an easier or harder day without considering conditions, tactics and course type.
It also should not replace official rankings. It is a ProTriStats lens for comparing race context, not an organizer-issued classification.
- - A race with poor imported ranking coverage may be stronger than the score suggests.
- - Course conditions can make a weaker field produce slower times or a stronger field produce tactical racing.
- - Late withdrawals, start-list changes and missing DNS data can distort pre-race strength estimates.
- - Label field strength as ProTriStats-derived unless it comes directly from a named official source.
- - Show the drivers behind unusually high or low scores.
- - Separate male and female field strength wherever the underlying data supports it.