British middle-distance runners are highly ranked in the World Athletics rankings system but does it work?

While golf and tennis have long held a world rankings system based on honours won and levels of performance, athletics hasn’t until recently.

World Athletics devised a new global ranking system where athletes score points on a combination of result and place depending on the level of the competition in which the result is achieved. The ranking is based on an average score over a number of competitions over a period of time.

The rankings pre-Olympics actually help determined what athletes made up the final spots in Japan and were no doubt a reason why the qualifying standards were harder than normal to put a greater importance on the rankings system.

World Athletics has now updated the rankings taking into account the Olympic results on the rankings published on August 18 and then again a few days after the Eugene meeting a week later and they make interesting reading but to some still need a tinkering with.

Ironically the rankings are are a better reflection of athletes abilities after Oregon than they were after the Olympics which suggests the organisation hasn’t quite got their priorities right.

When athletes win Olympic golds in the fastest time of the year such as Elaine Thompson-Herah at 100m, Athing Mu at 800m and Sydney McLaughlin and 400m hurdles they should be the world no.1 rather than a very consistent athlete with a better set of marks?

Overall men
While most attention has been on the ranking in individual events, there is an overall ranking and it’s no surprise that Karsten Warholm is now regarded as the top overall athlete from fellow Scandinavian Armand Duplantis. World shot record-breaker Ryan Crouser moved from fifth to third after Eugene moving ahead of Canadians Damian Warner and Andre de Grasse. It’s proof that British male athletes are not dominating the sport as much as in previous eras when the highest placed overall British male athlete is Andrew Pozzi way back in 60th.

1 Karsten Warholm (NOR) 1539
2 Armand Duplantis (SWE) 1535
3 Ryan Crouser (USA) 1500
4 Andre de Grasse (CAN) 1491
5 Damian Warner (CAN) 1473
6 Alison Dos Santos (BRA) 1466
7 Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 1465
8 Rai Benjamin (USA) 1463
9 Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN) 1444
10 Kenny Bednarek (USA) 1443
Top Brit: 60 Andrew Pozzi (GBR) 1361

Overall women
Thanks to her versatility from 1500m to 10,000m, Sifan Hassan is comfortably top woman from fellow double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah who has closed the gap significantly after her Eugene run. A recent world record-breaker Yulimar Rojas is not surprisingly third but it does not quite seem right and Femke Bol was fourth overall after the Olympics even though she was clearly only third best at her best event but she lost two places to Faith Kipyegon and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce after their Eugene efforts with the Jamaican likely to move up further after her Lausanne win in next week’s rankings. Laura Muir is the top Briton in 15th after Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson both had injury problems this year.

1 Sifan Hassan (NED) 1534
2 Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM) 1515
3 Yulimar Rojas (VEN) 1475
4 Faith Kipyegon (KEN) 1474
5 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) 1458
6 Femke Bol (NED) 1455
7 Katie Nageotte (USA) 1444
8 Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) 1433
9 Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 1430
10 Hyvin Kiyeng (KEN) 1429
selected others
13 Sydney McLaughlin (USA) 1424
14 Nafi Thiam (BEL) 1423
Top Brit: 15 Laura Muir (GBR) 1421

Men’s Olympic champions
Only nine of the 21 male Olympic champions were ranked world No.1 after the Games but another nine were in the top three. The 800m winner Emmanuel Korir had the lowest ranking in ninth despite having gone into the Games with the second fastest ever time but he moved up to fourth despite losing in Eugene. Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Joshua Cheptegei both advanced to first after Eugene.

100m: Lamont Marcell Jacobs (ITA) 1st
200m: Andre de Grasse (CAN) 1st
400m: Steven Gardiner (BAH) 4th
800m: Emmanuel Korir (KEN) 8th then 4th
1500m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 2nd then 1st
5000m: Joshua Cheptegei (KEN) 2nd then 1st
10,000m: Selemon Barega (ETH) 3rd
110mH: Hansle Parchment (JAM) 3rd
400mH: Karsten Warholm (NOR) 1st
3000mSC: Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) 2nd
HJ: Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) 2nd
HJ: Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) 3rd
PV: Armand Duplantis (SWE) 1st
LJ: Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) 1st
TJ: Pedro Pichardo (CUB) 1st
SP: Ryan Crouser (USA) 1st
DT: Daniel Stahl (SWE) 1st
HT: Wojciech Nowicki (POL) 1st
JT: Neeraj Chopra (IND) 2nd
20kmW: Massimo Stano (ITA) 2nd
Mar: Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 6th

Women’s Olympic champions
The women winners in Tokyo fared better in the world rankings than the men with 14 getting the No.1 spot. The worst ranking champions were fifth-placers Athing Mu, Peruth Chemutai and Shiying Lu which is fair enough on the last two as their pre Olympic form was patchy and certainly not world-beating but not Mu who had the world lead going into the Olympics. Mu jumped from fifth to first after Eugene. At 100m, Thompson Herah also advanced from her American run though Lijiao Gong dropped to second.

100m: Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM) 2nd then 1st
200m: Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM) 1st
400m: Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) 1st
800m: Athing Mu (USA) 5th then 1st
1500m: Faith Kipyegon (KEN) 1st
5000m: Sifan Hassan (NED) 2nd
10,000m: Sifan Hassan (NED) 1st
Mar: Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 1st
100mH: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) 1st
400mH: Sydney McLaughlin (USA) 2nd
3000mSC: Peruth Chemutai (UGA) 5th then 3rd
HJ: Mariya Lasitskene (ANA) 2nd
PV: Katie Nageotte (USA) 1st
LJ: Malaika Mihambo (GER) 1st
TJ: Yulimar Rojas (VEN) 1st
SP: Lijiao Gong (CHN) 1st then 2nd
DT: Valarie Allman (USA) 1st
HT: Anita Wlodarczyk (POL) 1st
JT: Shiying Lu (CHN) 5th then 7th
20kmW: Antonella Palmisano (ITA) 1st
Hep: Nafi Thiam (BEL) 1st

Other top male ranked athletes
The lowest position from a world no.1 on the current rankings post Olympics was Johannes Vetter who struggled back in ninth in Tokyo but was dominant enough elsewhere to be regarded as the top-ranked athlete. Mohamed Katir also failed to match his Pre-Olympic form out in Japan with an eighth place in Tokyo.

400m: Anthony Zambrano (COL) – 3rd in Tokyo
800m: Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich (KEN) – 2nd in Tokyo
1500m: Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN) – 2nd in Tokyo (dropped to 2nd in WR after Eugene)
5000m: Mohamed Katir (ESP) – 8th in Tokyo (dropped to 2nd in WR after Eugene)
10,000m: Jacob Kiplimo (UGA) – 3rd in Tokyo
Mar: Birhanu Legese – DNC in Tokyo
110mH: Grant Holloway (USA) – 2nd in Tokyo
3000mSC: Lamecha Girma (ETH) – 2nd in Tokyo
HJ: Maksim Nedasekau (BLR) – 3rd in Tokyo
JT: Johannes Vetter (GER) – 9th in Tokyo
20kmW: Alvaro Martin (ESP) – 4th in Tokyo

Other top female ranked athletes
Christin Hussong kept her top spot in the rankings despite matching Vetter’s ninth in Japan as Germany’s javelin throwers had a disappointing Games. Jemma Reekie missed out on medal by a very small margin in Japan with almost her final stride but pre-Olympics she had proved herself the most consistent top-class performer over two laps. Eugene though dropped her two places.

100m: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) 2nd in Tokyo (dropped to 2nd in WR after Eugene)
800m: Jemma Reekie (GBR) 4th in Tokyo (dropped to 3rd in WR after Eugene)
5000m: Hellen Obiri (KEN) 2nd in Tokyo
400mH: Femke Bol (NED) 3rd in Tokyo
3000SC: Hyvin Kiyeng (KEN) 3rd in Tokyo
HJ: Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) 3rd in Tokyo
JT: Christin Hussong (GER) 9th in Tokyo

British male rankings in top 12
Pre-Games, Elliot Giles put one top class performance in after another and ranked second even though he did not quite make the Games final and did not run at his best in Eugene. Andy Pozzi is the only other Britain with a top six place with a consistent year over the hurdles backed up by a final spot. Britain’s only male individual medallist Josh Kerr is ranked only 11th as he stayed away from the Wanda Diamond League circuit and focussed on more low key events. Lawrence Okoye moved up three places courtesy of his Budapest competition on August 24.
2: Elliot Giles (800m)
5: Andy Pozzi(110mH)
7: CJ Ujah (100m)
8: Jake Wightman (1500m)
10: Zharnel Hughes (100m), Andrew Butchart (5000m)
11: Jamie Webb (800m), Josh Kerr (1500m), Harry Coppell (PV), Lawrence Okoye (DT) then 8th

British female rankings in top 12
British middle distance runners have had a great season and Reekie and Hodgkinson topped the 800m lists with Muir second to the great Faith Kipyegon at 1500m as the women achieved ten top eight places post Olympics. After being fourth after the Olympics, Holly Bradshaw moved up to her Tokyo third courtesy of her Eugene second.
1: Jemma Reekie (800m) then 3rd
2: Keely Hodgkinson (800m), Laura Muir (1500m)
4: Jodie Williams (400m), Holly Bradshaw (PV) then 3rd
5: Dina Asher-Smith (100m) then 6th, Eilish McColgan (5000m) then 6th, Cindy Sember (100mH)
7: Jasmin Sawyers (LJ)
8: Laura Muir (800m) (Asher-Smith (200m) promoted to 8th post Eugene)
9: Daryll Neita (100m) then 11th
10: Elizabeth Bird (3000msc)
11: Eilish McColgan (10,000m)
12: Jessie Knight (400mH) then 13th, Abigail Irozuru (LJ)

Top British males at other events
Mo Farah’s 117th at the marathon is the worst position though that is misleading in Olympic terms as most of those ahead are Kenyans and Ethiopians.
200m: Adam Gemili 14th then 15th
400m: Matthew Hudson-Smith 14th
10,000m: Marc Scott 20th
Mar: Mo Farah 117th
400mH: Chris McAlister 23rd then 20th
3000SC: Phil Norman 33rd
HJ: Tom Gale 17th
LJ: Reynold Banigo 72nd then 73rd
TJ: Nathan Douglas 46th
SP: Scott Lincoln 28th
HT: Nick Miller 14th
JT: Daniel Bainbridge 98th
Dec: Timothy Duckworth 47th
20kmW: Callum Wilkinson 13th

Top British females at other events
The 200m position changed after Eugene as Jodie Williams was replaced as the top Brit due to world champion Dina Asher-Smith’s third place in Eugene.
200: Jodie Williams 20th then Dina Asher-Smith 8th
Mar: Steph Twell 118th
HJ: Morgan Lake 13th
TJ: Naomi Ogbeta 16th
SP: Sophie McKinna 16th
DT: Jade Lally 42nd
HT: Tara Simpson-Sullivan 49th
JT: Freya Jones 88th then 89th
20kmW: Heather Lewis 74th
Hep: Holly Mills 22nd