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.
From April 21-28, one U.S. athlete in the top 100 of their respective event had the biggest absolute improvement to their World Ranking, improving their position by 46 spots after back-to-back second-place finishes on April 24 and 26. Tionna Tobias has been busy this month, long jumping on April 18, 24, and 26, and running the 100m on April 28. Entering this two-week streak, her long jump ranking was 138th, and she now finds herself at 43rd, with a stop at 89th in between. After winning the Addis Ababa Grand Prix (category C), placing second at the Kip Keino Classic (category A), and placing second at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix (category B), she has replaced more than half of her top five marks in the past two weeks with high category competitions. 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), the top U.S. athlete did not even compete last week and still rose from 3rd to 1st for a 67% improvement. Jacory Patterson, 2025 Diamond League Champion in the 400m, was ranked 3rd in the world last week. However, the two athletes ahead of him, Botswanans Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Bayapo Ndori, each utilized the Wanda Diamond League Xiamen on April 26, 2025 as part of their ranking scores. Since marks are only applicable for rankings in the twelve months following, this competition no longer qualifies, causing both Botswanans’ rankings to slip to 2nd and 5th, respectively. On the contrary, Jacory Patterson has until May 25 before one of his marks expires, allowing him to claim the top spot in the men’s 400m world rankings. 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.