Is Julie Gibson Clark still ranked #2 on the longevity leaderboard?

No. Clark's widely publicized #2 ranking was based on a 2023-2024 NOVOS-sponsored case study using an older scoring method. The leaderboard later changed to averaging each participant's three lowest scores from tests taken within a rolling 24-month window, a system that favors people who can afford to retest frequently. As of mid-2026, Clark no longer appears in the published top 25.

Is biological age testing like DunedinPACE or PhenoAge scientifically validated?

These clocks are built from population studies linking biomarker patterns to future disease and mortality risk, and they are used in academic aging research. However, they have not been validated as individual diagnostic tools the way a blood pressure cuff has, results can vary between clocks and testing rounds, and public leaderboard rankings are self-submitted rather than independently audited, which is why one of the field's own co-founders has publicly questioned the leaderboard's scientific rigor.

What should someone do if they want to apply longevity science without expensive testing?

Most of the leaders in this guide agree the highest-leverage, lowest-cost levers are consistent sleep, resistance training plus zone 2 cardio, adequate protein, sun exposure, stress and social connection, and avoiding smoking, excess alcohol, and ultra-processed food. Baseline bloodwork with a physician is generally more actionable than a single consumer epigenetic or biomarker score.

Top 10 Longevity Leaders Reveal New Secrets (2026)

By Editorial Team - July 09, 2026

Medically Reviewed by: OneDayMD Editorial Team | Last Updated: July 2026

Quick Answer (AI & Search Summary)

Two different rankings get called the "longevity leaderboard." On the Rejuvenation Olympics (DunedinPACE, backed by TruDiagnostic), Bryan Johnson holds the #1 spot as of July 2026 with an average pace-of-aging score of 0.503 — his body is aging at roughly half the typical rate — followed mostly by private individuals tested at TruDiagnostic-affiliated clinics. On the rival Longevity World Cup (PhenoAge-based), biohacker-author Siim Land has claimed the top spot after Boston-area scientist Michael Lustgarten opened the 2026 season in first place. Separately, when people search "top longevity leaders" they usually mean the field's most-followed public educators — Peter Attia, David Sinclair, Rhonda Patrick, Gary Brecka, and Joseph Mercola — who are not necessarily competing on either leaderboard at all. This guide covers both groups, what changed through mid-2026, and where the science is (and isn't) settled.

If you're in the anti-aging, longevity, or biohacking space, you've almost certainly heard of Dr. David Sinclair, Bryan Johnson, Siim Land, and Dr. Peter Attia. But the field has changed a lot since this article first ran in late 2024 — leaderboard rules have been rewritten, a rival competition has launched, and more than one featured name has made uncomfortable headlines. Below is a fully updated, fact-checked look at who's actually winning the measurable "biological age" competitions, who the most influential public voices are, and how to tell the difference between the two.

Table of Contents

Two Different "Leaderboards" — Why the Rankings Keep Changing
Current Rejuvenation Olympics Top 10 (DunedinPACE)
The Rival: Longevity World Cup (PhenoAge)
8 Longevity Voices Shaping the Conversation
2026 Trends: What the Leaders Have in Common
A Word of Caution: Conflicts of Interest and Controversies
Practical Takeaways for Everyday Longevity
FAQ
Sources & References

Two Different "Leaderboards" — Why the Rankings Keep Changing

The Rejuvenation Olympics was co-founded by entrepreneur Bryan Johnson and physician Dr. Oliver Zolman, in partnership with TruDiagnostic, the company that sells the underlying epigenetic test. Participants submit a DunedinPACE score — a measure of how fast someone is aging biologically per chronological year — and the site ranks them publicly. A score of 0.50 means someone is aging at about half the typical pace; 1.0 is average.

That sounds objective, but the scoring rules have changed more than once, and one of the competition's own co-founders is no longer involved. In a documented public exchange, Dr. Zolman explained his departure by saying Johnson and TruDiagnostic had made the leaderboard "unscientific and clinically meaningless." The current methodology averages each athlete's three lowest DunedinPACE scores from tests taken within a rolling 24-month window — a system that rewards frequent retesting (Johnson has said he tests roughly 20–25 times a year) over people who can only afford one test annually.

Partly in response, a rival competition — the Longevity World Cup — launched in 2025, founded by Bitcoin developer Adam Ficsor. It uses PhenoAge, a blood-biomarker-based clock developed by Yale researcher Dr. Morgan Levine, for its Amateur track, and a newer Bortz Age clock for its Pro track. Instead of ranking by pace of aging, it ranks by the raw gap between biological and chronological age, with prize money funded by crowdsourced donations.

On January 1, 2026, the two competitions crowned different leaders on the same day for the first time: Bryan Johnson topped the Rejuvenation Olympics while Boston-area scientist Michael Lustgarten, PhD, led the Longevity World Cup — a moment longevity-industry observers have pointed to as evidence the field is both maturing and fragmenting at the same time.

Current Rejuvenation Olympics Top 10 (DunedinPACE, July 2026 Snapshot)

The table below reflects a snapshot taken directly from the live leaderboard in July 2026. Rankings update daily — for today's standings, see the official Rejuvenation Olympics DunedinPACE leaderboard.

Rank	Name	Avg. Pace (3-test avg.)	Best Single Test	Testing Clinic
1	Bryan Johnson	0.503	0.48	Blueprint (Bryan Johnson)
2	Madeleine Saade	0.507	0.46	TruDiagnostic House Clinic
3	Annie N.	0.517	0.46	TruDiagnostic House Clinic
4	Aldo Britschgi	0.540	0.53	TruDiagnostic House Clinic
5	Marcus Jecklin	0.550	0.52	TruDiagnostic House Clinic
6	Lorenz Sauer	0.593	0.49	TruDiagnostic House Clinic
7	Karen Orr	0.600	0.56	TruDiagnostic House Clinic
8	Dixon Leavitt	0.601	0.54	NOVOS Labs
9	Andres Sulaiman	0.607	0.56	Blueprint (Bryan Johnson)
10	Andrew Ramirez Mountain	0.607	0.55	Hannah's Clinic

Note: a score of 1.0 represents average biological aging; lower is slower/better. Aside from Johnson, nearly everyone in the current top 10 is a private individual tested through TruDiagnostic's own in-house clinic or an affiliated program — a detail worth keeping in mind given Dr. Zolman's public criticism of the leaderboard's independence, discussed above.

The Rival: Longevity World Cup (PhenoAge)

The Longevity World Cup is younger and smaller than the Rejuvenation Olympics, but it's gaining attention as an alternative that some competitors consider more transparent. Rather than pace of aging, it scores participants on how far below their chronological age their PhenoAge (or, in the Pro track, Bortz Age) falls, split into Amateur and Professional leagues with generational sub-brackets so older entrants aren't competing directly against 20-somethings.

Michael Lustgarten, PhD — a Boston-area scientist who has publicly tracked his own biomarkers since around 2015 — opened the 2026 season in first place. Since then, Siim Land has stated on his own podcast that he now holds the top ranking, citing a 21.1-year reduction versus his chronological age. Because this is a newer competition without the multi-year track record of the Rejuvenation Olympics, and because top placements are self-reported before independent verification, treat any single "#1" claim on either board as a snapshot, not a permanent title.

8 Longevity Voices Shaping the Conversation in 2026

These are the names people are actually searching for when they type "top longevity leaders" — a mix of leaderboard competitors, scientists, physicians, and business-savvy educators. Being on this list is not an endorsement of every claim each person makes; see the caution section further down for important context.

1. Bryan Johnson

Johnson sold his payments company Braintree/Venmo to PayPal for roughly $800 million, then founded Blueprint, the company behind his "Don't Die" philosophy. He currently sits at #1 on the Rejuvenation Olympics leaderboard (0.503 average pace, 0.48 best single test). Through 2026 he trimmed his daily supplement count from 111 pills down to around 30, dropped rapamycin, and added low-dose lithium; Blueprint raised $60 million in late-2025 funding from investors including Kim Kardashian and the Winklevoss twins. On June 30, 2026, Johnson disclosed he has autoimmune gastritis (AIG), an incurable condition causing B12 and iron deficiency and anemia, saying he doesn't know how long he's had it and is pursuing experimental approaches. He continues to argue the single highest-leverage free habit is lowering your resting heart rate before bed through consistent sleep and exercise.

2. Peter Attia, MD

Attia is the physician-author behind Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity (a #1 New York Times bestseller with 3M+ copies sold), host of "The Drive" podcast, and founder of the Early Medical concierge practice and the Outlive app. His "Medicine 3.0" framework centers on exercise (especially VO2 max), protein intake, sleep, emotional health, and early diagnostics rather than late-stage disease treatment. In January 2026, CBS News named Attia a contributor as part of its editorial relaunch under Bari Weiss; he resigned that role on February 23, 2026, after a U.S. Department of Justice release of files showed his name in more than 1,700 entries of correspondence with the late Jeffrey Epstein between 2014 and 2019. Attia said he met Epstein roughly seven or eight times to discuss research, apologized for messages he called "embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible," and denied any criminal involvement; no charges have been filed against him. His health work and podcast have continued.

3. David Sinclair, PhD

Sinclair is a Harvard Medical School genetics professor and founding director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging, best known for sirtuin/NAD+ research and his book "Lifespan: Why We Age – And Why We Don't Have To." He co-founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Life Biosciences, and the dog-supplement company Animal Bioscience. In 2024, after Life Biosciences and Animal Bioscience promoted "reversed aging" claims in primates and dogs, prominent scientists (including Harvard's Jeffery Flier and NAD+ researcher Charles Brenner) publicly disputed the interpretation of the data as overstated. Sinclair resigned as president of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research in March 2024 amid the backlash and said he regretted the wording used in the dog-supplement marketing. He remains an active researcher on epigenetic reprogramming and the "information theory of aging."

4. Gary Brecka

Brecka spent roughly two decades as a mortality/biomarker analyst for the life insurance industry before co-founding 10X Health System in 2021 and launching The Ultimate Human podcast in late 2023, now one of the most-downloaded health and wellness shows with 280+ episodes. He describes himself as a "human biologist" and openly states he is not a physician; his degrees are a BS in Biology and a BS in Human Biology (National University of Health Sciences), not a medical degree. Brecka has built a commercial ecosystem around Ultimate Human-branded supplements, cold-plunge systems, hydrogen water devices, genetic/methylation testing, and a paid VIP membership, including an April 2026 partnership with supplement brand Cymbiotika. His content mixes free foundational advice (sleep, sunlight, movement) with upsells into paid testing and products.

5. Rhonda Patrick, PhD

Patrick is a biomedical scientist and founder of FoundMyFitness, a podcast, YouTube channel, and newsletter translating aging and nutrition research for a general audience. Through 2026 she's continued weekly and biweekly episodes on topics including epigenetic clocks (with clock developer Dr. Steve Horvath), creatine and sleep deprivation, PFAS exposure and beta-glucan fiber, sauna use, and NAD+ precursors. Compared to others on this list, she is generally regarded as one of the more scientifically conservative voices in the space, emphasizing peer-reviewed evidence and flagging where data is preliminary, though she does run a paid premium membership and sponsor relationships tied to the podcast.

6. Joseph Mercola, DO

Mercola is a licensed osteopathic physician (Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, 1982) who founded Mercola.com in 1997 and stopped seeing patients in 2009 to run it and his supplement business full time. It remains one of the most-visited natural health sites globally. Mercola has also drawn sustained criticism: the FDA issued warning letters in 2005, 2006, 2011, and 2021 over unsubstantiated disease-related product claims, and researchers and fact-checking organizations have identified him as one of the more prolific sources of health misinformation online, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024 he launched Joy House Publishing, and his book on cellular health reportedly reached bestseller status; Mercola Market has since expanded into national retail distribution.

7. Siim Land

Land is an Estonian author, anthropologist, and podcaster who has written eight-plus books, including "The Longevity Leap," and hosts a weekly podcast with 500+ episodes covering metabolic flexibility, continuous glucose monitoring, and epigenetic testing (read our review). After competing on the Rejuvenation Olympics board in 2024, he later moved to the Longevity World Cup, which he's described as a more unbiased alternative, and has since claimed the #1 ranking there with a self-reported 21.1-year biological age reduction. He also runs longevity-focused retreats and an online community.

8. Julie Gibson Clark

Clark, a Phoenix-based single mother and recruiter, became the field's best-known "everyday person" story in 2023–2024: a DunedinPACE score of 0.665, achieved on a roughly $100-a-month budget (gym membership plus a NOVOS supplement subscription), briefly placed her at #2 on the Rejuvenation Olympics leaderboard — ahead of Bryan Johnson at the time. It's worth noting her result came from a single company-sponsored case study rather than a controlled trial, and that under the leaderboard's current scoring rules (which reward frequent retesting), she no longer appears in the published top 25. Her story remains a useful illustration that foundational habits — strength training, Zone 2 cardio, a vegetable-heavy diet, sauna, and consistent sleep — can meaningfully move the needle without an expensive protocol.

Want a physician's take on where you actually stand?

Biological age scores and leaderboards are entertaining, but a physician-guided baseline — real bloodwork, family history, and a personalized prevention plan — is a more reliable starting point than any single consumer test. Explore preventive wellness care through The Wellness Company →

2026 Trends: What the Leaders Have in Common

Fragmenting metrics. DunedinPACE, PhenoAge, Bortz Age, and organ-specific clocks like SYMPHONYAge now compete for attention, which means "who's #1" depends entirely on which test you're asking about.
A return to fundamentals. Even the most extreme biohackers are trimming back. Johnson cut his own stack from 111 supplements to roughly 30 and calls a lower resting heart rate before bed the single best free intervention; most leaders on this list converge on sleep, resistance training, Zone 2 cardio, and stress management as the real foundation.
AI-assisted protocols. Tools like Bryan AI and Ultimate Human AI are being layered onto personal data to generate individualized recommendations, part of a broader AI-in-medicine shift.
Heavy commercialization. Nearly every figure in this article sells a supplement line, testing package, membership, or app tied directly to the advice they give — worth remembering when weighing any specific recommendation.
More public scrutiny. Sinclair's 2024 claims controversy, Attia's 2026 CBS exit, Zolman's leaderboard-integrity critique, and Mercola's long regulatory history all show a field facing more outside fact-checking than it did even two years ago.

A Word of Caution: Conflicts of Interest and Controversies

Because this is a "leaders" roundup rather than a clinical guideline, it's worth being direct about where the field's credibility has been tested:

Commercial conflicts are the norm, not the exception. Brecka's Ultimate Human ecosystem, Mercola's supplement business, Blueprint's product line, and NOVOS's sponsorship of the Julie Gibson Clark case study all mean the person delivering the health advice usually profits from you acting on it.
Overstated claims have real consequences. Sinclair's 2024 "reversed aging" marketing for a dog supplement drew public rebuke from fellow scientists and cost him a leadership post at his own field's professional academy.
Credentials vary widely. Attia and Mercola are licensed physicians; Sinclair and Patrick are PhD scientists; Brecka, Johnson, and Land hold no medical or clinical license and say so themselves.
Leaderboards are self-reported. Both the Rejuvenation Olympics and Longevity World Cup rely on participants submitting their own test results; a co-founder of the former has publicly questioned its scientific integrity.
Single case studies aren't clinical trials. Compelling individual stories — like Clark's — are illustrative, not proof that a specific supplement caused the result.

Practical Takeaways for Everyday Longevity

You don't need a Blueprint budget or a TruDiagnostic subscription to apply what actually seems to matter across this list:

Prioritize consistent sleep and a lower resting heart rate over any single gadget or supplement.
Build a foundation of resistance training plus Zone 2 cardio and daily movement.
Get baseline labs done with a physician before chasing a single "biological age" number — see our nutrition and supplement guide for context on what's evidence-based.
Treat any single epigenetic or biomarker score as directional, not diagnostic; trends over multiple tests matter more than one snapshot.
Be skeptical of dramatic individual "case studies" attached to a product's own marketing.
Loop in your doctor before adding supplements or peptides, especially if you take other medications.

FAQ

Q: Who is #1 on the Rejuvenation Olympics leaderboard right now?

As of July 2026, Bryan Johnson holds #1 with an average pace score of 0.503 (best single test: 0.48). Rankings update daily; check the live leaderboard for today's standings.

Q: What's the difference between the Rejuvenation Olympics and the Longevity World Cup?

The Rejuvenation Olympics ranks by DunedinPACE (epigenetic pace of aging); the Longevity World Cup ranks by PhenoAge or Bortz Age (blood-biomarker-based biological age reversal).

Q: Is Julie Gibson Clark still ranked #2?

No. Her #2 ranking reflected a 2023–2024 sponsored case study under an older scoring system. A subsequent rules change favoring frequent retesting has pushed her out of the current published top 25.

Q: Are Peter Attia, David Sinclair, and Gary Brecka actually competing on a leaderboard?

Not confirmed. They're influential educators and businesspeople in the space, not verified top-ranked leaderboard competitors. Bryan Johnson and Siim Land are the two names on this list currently associated with a leaderboard's top spot.

Q: Is biological age testing scientifically validated?

These clocks correlate with disease and mortality risk at a population level and are used in aging research, but they aren't validated individual diagnostic tools, results can vary between tests, and public rankings are self-submitted rather than independently audited.

Q: What should I do if I want to apply longevity science without expensive testing?

Focus on sleep, resistance training and Zone 2 cardio, adequate protein, sunlight, stress and social connection, and avoiding smoking, excess alcohol, and ultra-processed food — then get baseline labs with a physician rather than relying on a single consumer score.

Sources & References

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Biological age tests, supplements, and protocols discussed here are not a substitute for individualized care from a licensed physician. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting a new supplement, testing, or exercise regimen, especially if you take other medications or have an existing health condition. Rankings and figures reflect publicly available information as of July 2026 and are subject to change.

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