Our series of merit rankings over the festive period acts as the definitive story of 2021 in facts and figures

Rankings have always been one of the most popular features in the pages of AW. They effectively tell the story of the year in facts and figures. Athletes, coaches, parents, fans and even shoe companies who are keen to sign the next big name eagerly pour over our annual statistics.

This year we are running in-depth British and international merit rankings on our website over the festive period. They will feature every run, jump and throw of note during 2021. For traditionalists who enjoy seeing the details in print, our next monthly magazine out in early January will contain an abridged version of the international stats.

Our thanks in particular to Peter Matthews, the extraordinarily long-time compiler of British athletics merit rankings and, along with a small team of statisticians from the Athletics International newsletter, the editor of international merit rankings.

The AI team has of course missed Mel Watman since he died in September, but they have stoically worked to compile this annual stats-fest of leading marks from the No.1 Olympic sport.

For those who do not understand what ‘merit rankings’ are, they differ from ‘normal rankings’ in that the statisticians decide the order of athletes based not simply on how fast they have run or how high or far they have jumped or thrown but also on performances in major competitions and win-loss ratios against fellow competitors.

As always, they throw up some controversial decisions too. Would you rank Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs as No.1 of the men’s 100m lists, for example, given the fact the Italian raced so sparsely outside of Tokyo?

With the British merit rankings, meanwhile, Matthews’ short verdict at the end of every event is authoritative and always interesting as it highlights the healthy and struggling disciplines.

The strong events in 2021, for example, not surprisingly include the middle-distances, with standards at record all-time highs or similar to the 1980s. Weaker events, on the other hand, include men’s and women’s javelin in particular.

Our merit rankings series over the festive period will be as follows:

UK women’s events (published on Dec 23)
UK men’s events (Dec 24)
World women’s sprints and hurdles (Dec 25)
World women’s endurance (Dec 26)
World women’s jumps (Dec 27)
World women’s throws (Dec 27)
World men’s sprints and hurdles (Dec 28)
World men’s endurance (Dec 28)
World men’s jumps (Dec 29)
World men’s throws (Dec 29)
World men’s and women’s race walks (Dec 30)
World men’s and women’s combined events (Dec 31)

You can also head here to find all our rankings in one place as they are published one by one in coming days.

For normal non-merit rankings, see Tilastopaja or World Athletics whereas British rankings for various age groups can be found on the Power of 10.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, if you enjoy seeing rankings in print then we are publishing an abbreviated version of the international merit with the top five in every track and field event in our January magazine. To subscribe CLICK HERE