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 July 21-26, two U.S. athletes in the top 100 of their respective events had the biggest absolute improvement to their World Rankings, each improving by 34 spots. Jadyn Mays had her best showing yet at a USATF Championships, finishing fourth in the 200m in New York this past weekend. Mays has run the same number of 100m and 200m races in 2026, but she has seemingly found more success in the 200m so far this season. After a 22.85 (-1.4 m/s) result in the heats and a 22.67 (+1.0 m/s) result in the final, Mays improved from 92nd in the world to 58th. Now, four of the five marks that comprise her world ranking score are from 2026. The former University of Oregon duck has also been part of USATF’s relay program this season, making appearances at the Pepsi Florida Relays, Tom Jones Memorial, and as a member of Team USATF at the World Athletics Relays in the Women’s 4x100m Relay – marking her first international competition. Deonca Bookman is no stranger to USATF Championships, and in the seventh Outdoor Championships of her career she set back-to-back personal bests en route to a second-place finish in the 400m hurdles – dipping below both 55 and 54 seconds for the first time in her career. Though her competition schedule was sparse in 2025, this season of undeniable breakthroughs is a testament to Bookman’s perseverance. Her world ranking improved accordingly, moving from 89th to 55th this week. Bookman is not at significant risk of her world ranking dropping any time soon, as each mark in her ranking score occurred this year. Should she continue running times like we saw at the USATF Outdoor Championships, her climb up the world rankings will continue. With a 1206 result score and a 56 placing score, a 1262 performance score is on par with the top athletes in the world – with only thirteen athletes currently averaging higher than that across their top five performances. 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 4th to 2nd for a 50% improvement, continuing the shake-up atop the women’s 200m world rankings. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is the third U.S. athlete to be ranked #2 in the world at 200m in as many weeks. The world #1 ranked 100m runner made strides this past weekend towards joining Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich and Spain’s María Pérez as the only athletes to be ranked #1 in the world in multiple events – a feat Jefferson-Wooden had accomplished earlier this year. Jefferson-Wooden has not raced very frequently so far this season, but the results speak for themselves when she does. To win her fourth USATF title, Jefferson-Wooden ran 21.69 (+1.0 m/s) – only 0.01 seconds off her 2025 World Athletics Championships winning time. She has a wild card entry into the World Athletics Ultimate Championships for both the 100m and 200m, meaning we most likely haven’t seen the last of Jefferson-Wooden in 2026. 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.