by Lia Skoufos, MS
This article is part of a USATF Campus exclusive series to help understand the World Athletics Rankings. For track enthusiasts and elite athletes alike, this series aims to provide clarity, analysis, and education on all things world rankings and how they impact Team USATF. For more information on how the world rankings system works, see this article.
Team USATF athletes ended the 2025 season at the top of the World Athletics Rankings in 12 of the 46 possible events — more than any other country and more than the U.S. has ever had to end a year. Table 1 below shows the top three countries based on most number one world rankings at the end of each year.
This equals the 12 gold medals in individual events that the U.S. earned at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, but there were a couple notable discrepancies between the lists of world numbers one’s and world champions after Tokyo 25, as discussed in this article. Here, we will focus on the top U.S. athletes, and how exactly they got the job done.
Among top U.S. athletes, a consistent theme behind their success was high placement at high level meets. These athletes had a total of 57 competitions that factored into their rankings. Of those 57, the lowest category of competition found were two B level instances and two World Athletics Championships semifinals. Those two category B instances? Two athletes who won their respective events at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, which aside from Tokyo 25 was the highest rated competition of the 2025 season, as scored by World Athletics via their Competition Performance Rankings. Table 2 below shows the absolute count of each meet category ordered by the placing score awarded for a top finish.
sf = Semi-Final Though many of these athletes are also world leaders in terms of absolute mark, there were 2 athletes — Chase Jackson and Valarie Allman — for whom even American Records did not end up counting toward their ranking scores because they were both achieved at C level meets. These stellar performances were outweighed by the significant contribution of placing points from other competitions. As such, 48 of the 57 competitions that did end up factoring into athletes’ ranking scores were first place finishes, garnering maximum available placing points for their respective categories. While it may be obvious that winning high level competitions is necessary to stand atop the World Rankings, this highlights the importance of GW meets such as the World Athletics Indoor Championships and Diamond League Meetings.
World rankings matter in some events more than others, especially for athletes ranked 15th-50th. Diamond League fields are small, and many athletes may not have the opportunity to compete in these events such as those with collegiate commitments. For all U.S. athletes who ended the year in the top 50 of their respective event’s world rankings, the meet that appeared most in their Ranking Score was, unsurprisingly, the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships. The second most common was Tokyo 25, and rounding out the top three was the Prefontaine Classic. Table 3 below shows the top ten competitions featured in U.S. athletes’ ranking scores.
Breaking it down further, we can evaluate which rank date had the most impact on U.S. athletes’ improvement. Depending on how you measure improvement, different combinations of top dates arise, all aligning with Table 3. When focusing on changes in ranking position, the greatest week of improvement was between the dates of 5/20/2025 and 5/27/2025. Of the 360 athletes ranked in the top 50 for their respective events, the collective movement resulted in a net 466 places upward. During that weekend, notable events that ended up in athletes’ final Ranking Scores at the end of the season included the USATF Throws Festival (29 occurrences), Rabat Diamond League (21 occurrences), and Track Fest (12 occurrences). When measuring based on Ranking Score, the greatest week of improvement was from 7/29/2025 to 8/5/2025: the weekend of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships. The second best week was between 6/10/2025 and 6/17/2025, during which the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place, as well as the Oslo Diamond League and Stockholm Diamond League. Interestingly, USATF Throws Festival, Track Fest, Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, and NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships are all B level meets. As discussed earlier, B level meets do not typically appear in World Leaders’ Ranking Scores. However, these competitions are vital for other U.S. athletes when it comes to meet invites, sponsorships, and global championship qualification. At the NCAA level, there are few opportunities to compete in meets categorized higher than F, meaning the opportunity for Placing Points at B competitions such as NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships or Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships carry heavy weight. On the professional side, USATF Throws Festival included all throws and jumps, and Track Fest hosted distance events from 800m-5000m. For these event groups more than others, improvements in ranking scores could be the difference between making an Olympic/World Championship team or not. For a further breakdown of why world rankings may matter more in some events than others, check out the fourth article in this series: "World Rankings and Global Championship Qualification: When Does it Matter?". More details on rankings, results, and scenarios can be found on the World Athletics website. You can also experiment with my World Athletics Rankings Dashboard & Calculator or World Rankings Over Time, hosted exclusively on USATF Campus.
Lia Skoufos is a Sports Scientist at USATF specializing in throwing events. She holds a BS in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois Chicago and MS in Sport and Exercise Analytics from Marquette University and supports a range of analytics-based projects at USATF. In addition to her work with the throws group, she focuses on creating data-driven visuals and bridging the gap between technical analytics and practical applications by translating complex information into clear, actionable insights for coaches, athletes, and all USATF Campus members.