Posted: July 18, 2005

Athletics: Benhassi Ends Mutola’s Historic Streak In The 800M IAAF World Rankings

Monte Carlo - Since the introduction of the IAAF World Rankings on 1 January 2001, only one athlete, Maria Mutola, has managed to retain the same position in the Event Rankings. Until today that is, because the Mozambican Number 1 ranking in the 800m has just come to an end after 237 weeks!

Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi takes over as the new Event leader, after finishing second at the Madrid meeting on Saturday. The Olympic silver medallist clocked 1:59.17 (1288 points), her fourth performance under 2 minutes this season, and once again beat Mutola.

Mutola could only finish third with 1:59.58 (1271 points) in Madrid, and has now lost to Benhassi on three straight occasions, including the Olympic final last August.

The Moroccan, who also finished second in Zaragoza three weeks ago, has now won 7 out of her last 9 meetings since the World Athletics Final in September 2004.

Mutola, by contrast, has only won in Eugene this season, and was beaten in Paris, Rome and Madrid. As a result of Benhassi’s performance in Madrid, she is the new Event Rankings leader, by a single point ahead of Mutola.

Spain’s Maria Teresa Martinez, who finished fourth just behind Mutola with 2:00.92 (1237 points), moves up two places to 8th in the Event Rankings, while her compatriot Natalia Rodriguez, fourth in Madrid’s 1500m with 4:07.36 (1247 points), also moved up two places, to 9th.

Mutola is not the only athlete who lost her leading position this week. Sandra Cummings-Glover (USA) slipped out of the number one spot in the 400m Hurdles Event Rankings, while Jeremy Wariner (USA) also gave up his top position in the men’s 400m.

Cummings-Glover did not back up her win from last year’s Madrid meeting and was forced to hand over her leading position to Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova (UKR), while Wariner is the victim of a scheduling discrepancy.

The 2004 US National Championships were held in Sacramento a year ago last week, while the 2005 Nationals took place earlier this summer, which meant that Wariner could benefit from both his title winning performances for a few weeks. But now that his 2004 win is more than 12 months old it ceases to count, so the Olympic champion has dropped to second in the 400m Rankings behind Olympic silver medallist Otis Harris (USA).

Please click here for the latest IAAF World Rankings: IAAF.org.