Posted: February 14, 2006

Athletics: Jamal Strengthens Her Event Lead In Latest IAAF World Rankings

Monte-Carlo - Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal turned in the best women’s performance of the week when she won the 1500m at the Reunion Internacional de Atletismo in Valencia, Spain, on Saturday (11). The 21-year-old finished in 4:01.82 (1343 points) to improve her score by 26 points at the top of the Event Ranking ahead of Russia’s Olga Yegorova.

Also in Valencia, Naroa Agirre set a new Spanish Indoor women’s Pole Vault record with a 4.47m (1156 points) clearance for second behind Russia’s Svetlana Feofanova. Agirre improved 5 places to 18th in the Women’s Pole Vault Event Ranking.

In the Men’s 1500m Event Ranking, Daham Najim Bashir improved his position in the Top-10. The Qatari runner moved up two places into a tie for 5th place with Kenya’s Suleiman Kipses Simotwo after winning at the Asian Indoor Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, with 3:44.04 (1246 points).

Tatyana Efimenko of Kyrgyzstan also benefited from competing in Pattaya. The 24-year-old high jumper finished second with 1.91m (1215 points) and moved up two places in the women’s Event Ranking into a tie for 9th with Irina Mikhalchenko of Ukraine. The pair replaced Russia’s Tatyana Novoseltseva-Kivimyagi, who dropped six points and slipped to 11th this week.

Danielle Carruthers (USA) moved up one spot to 13th in the Women’s 100m Hurdles Event Ranking. Carruthers ran in Valencia over the weekend and placed second with 7.93 (1282 points) to Nigerian teenager Josephine Onyia. The young African rocketed through the Event Ranking after winning in 7.91 (1306 points), going from 112th to 54th position!

The most significant meet in the southern hemisphere since the latest edition of the IAAF World Rankings was the South African Championships in Port Elizabeth. Pieter De Villiers placed second in the 400m Hurdles with a time of 48.74 (1236 points) and moved up two places to 13th in the Event Ranking, while Geraldine Pillay won the Women’s 200m in 23.28 (1186 points) and stepped up four places to 20th in the Event Ranking.

In the Heptathlon Event Ranking, Britain’s Julie Hollman moved into the Top-20 after finishing second in Prague in a five-nation match competition. Hollman scored 4498 points (1168 points) and is ranked 19th this week.

Wallace Spearmon (USA), 21, ran the world’s fastest time ever indoors over 300m at the Fayetteville Tyson Invitational by clocking 31.88 (1308 points), and stepped up eight places to 26th in the Event Ranking.

France’s Ronald Pognon dropped four places to 9th in the Men’s 100m Event Ranking as his European Indoor 60m record performance from last year in Karlsruhe, Germany, turned over a year old.

The full IAAF World Rankings can be seen here: IAAF.org.

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