Posted: July 12, 2005

Athletics: Shaheen Rises To The Overall Top In The Lastest IAAF World Rankings

Monte-Carlo - As predicted Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar is the new Overall leader of the IAAF World Rankings, overtaking Asafa Powell (JAM) and Kenenisa Bekele (ETH).

The World champion and World record holder for the 3000m Steeplechase produced an amazing sprint finish to win the second TDK Golden League meeting of the season in Rome last Friday in 7:56.34 (1449 points) to take over Overall top spot.

In the process Shaheen also re-entered the Event Ranking in first place, as previous Event leader Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya slipped to 3rd by not repeating his Lausanne win from a year ago. Paul Kipsiele Koech barely lost to Shaheen in Rome, finishing with 7:56.37 (1424 points), strengthening his second place in the Event Ranking behind Shaheen.

As a result of the intense competition calendar worldwide, there are seven other new Event Ranking leaders this week besides the new Overall leader.

Just like Shaheen, Tirunesh Dibaba was also the winner of a close race in Rome. The reigning World 5000m champion edged her compatriot Berhane Adere, the World 10,000m champion, when winning in 14:32.57 (1411 points). Another Ethiopian, Olympic 5000m champion Meseret Defar finished third in 14:32.90 (1371 points) and rose to 3rd in the Event Ranking. Tirunesh’s older sister, Ejegayehu Dibaba, the Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, placed 5th in Rome with 14:38.07 (1340 points) and improved two places to 5th.

The reigning double World Triple Jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia is yet to finish a competition under 15m this season. She continued her winning 15m streak in both Lausanne and Rome, which meant the 28-year-old re-entered the Event Ranking in first place dethroning Yamilé Aldama of Sudan.

On the men’s side, Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner (USA) rose from 4th place to first after cruising to victory in Lausanne with 44.96 (1324 points). Jamaican Brandon Simpson had a consistent week. A pair of 3rd place finishes with close to identical times; first in Lausanne with 45.26 (1274 points), then in Rome with 45.21 (1298 points), allowed Brandon to climb two places to 7th.

IAAF World Rankings.