by Lia Skoufos, MS
This article is a part of a USATF Campus exclusive series to help understand the World Athletics Rankings. For track fans and elite athletes alike, this series aims to provide clarity, analysis, and education on all things World Rankings, and what they mean for Team USATF. For more information on how the World Rankings system works, see this article.
From September 1-15, two U.S. athletes in the top 100 of their respective events had the biggest absolute improvements to their World Ranking, each improving by 15 spots. Coincidentally, Abel Teffra and Aidan Ryan both ran at the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile in New York on Sunday, taking tenth and thirteenth place, respectively. However, in both cases, this race is not responsible for their 15-place improvements. Abel Teffra jumped from 58th to 43rd in the Men’s 1500m World Rankings. Due to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship taking place, this ranking period spanned two weeks instead of the usual one. On September 2, Teffra took third place in the “C” category Serbia Athletics Meeting three days after setting a new personal best, replacing his mark from the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships with one nearly nine seconds faster. In Aidan Ryan’s case, the meet that made the difference was also on September 2, but at the 25th Volksbank Trier Eifel Flutlichtmeeting in Germany. Despite being an “F” category competition, the deep international field helped him run his second fastest ever 1500m. This mark improved his Ranking Score by 7 points, moving him from 89th to 74th. When assessing improvement based on percentage increase in ranking (e.g. 2nd to 1st is a 50% improvement as is moving from 30th to 15th), one U.S. athlete climbed from 6th to 1st for an 83% improvement. Despite being a college junior, pole vaulter Hana Moll closed her season with a focus on the Diamond League calendar, winning both Athletissima Lausanne and Weltklasse Zürich and qualifying for the Diamond League Final. From a world rankings perspective, the Diamond League Final awards more placing points than any competition outside of the World Athletics Championships, Olympic Games, or World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Moll took full advantage, winning the Diamond League Final by 11 centimeters. She then followed up this win with a second-place finish at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Both meets have significantly contributed to her rise in the World Rankings, improving her Ranking Score from 1313 to 1388. 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 and World Rankings Over Time Dashboard, 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.