Posted: February 21, 2006

Athletics: Spearmon goes to the top of the 200m in the latest IAAF World Rankings

Monte-Carlo - Wallace Spearmon (USA) became the first new Event Rankings leader of 2006. The 21-year-old World Championships silver medallist overtook his rival and compatriot Tyson Gay for the top spot after winning in Birmingham over the weekend. Spearmon ran 20.68 (1291 points), while another American, John Capel, the 2005 World bronze medallist, was third with 20.88 (1230 points). Capel, who was World champion in 2003, also moved up in the Event Ranking to 8th, overtaking Aaron Armstrong of Trinidad and Tobago. Fourth place in the race went to Omar Brown of Jamaica with 21.09 (1188 points) who improved to 14th position.

A pair of World records highlighted the Russian Indoor Championships. Liliya Shobukhova’s new mark over 3000m with 8:27.86 (1333 points) allowed her to climb five places to 12th in the Women’s 5000 – 10,000m Event Ranking, while her compatriot Yelena Soboleva moved into 7th place in the Women’s 1500m Event Ranking with a new World record of 3:58.28 (1343 points). Lying sixth is her compatriot Yuliya Chizhenko who finished second to Soboleva on the track with 4:01.26 (1283 points). There are now four Russian athletes in the Top-7 of the Women’s 1500m Event Ranking, although Maryan Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain remains at the top.

In men’s distance running, Ethiopian Tariku Bekele made the biggest improvement this week in terms of Rankings positions. The 18-year-old finished second in the Two Miles in Birmingham behind his brother Kenenisa, the World and Olympic champion, in 8:13.32 (1323 points). The result allowed Tariku to move up three places in the Men’s 5000 – 10,000m into 10th position, becoming the fourth Ethiopian to be ranked in the Top-10 at the moment.

In the Men’s High Jump Event Ranking, Andriy Sokolovskiy of Ukraine moved into sixth place ahead of former World champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa. Sokolovskiy’s rise follows his win in Banska Bystrica where he cleared 2.36m (1242 points). In Moscow, Andrey Tereshin won the Russian Indoor title with the same height (2.36m, 1257 points), and moved up four places to 17th in the Event Ranking.

The Birmingham meet brought a few other changes to the IAAF World Rankings this week. Spain’s Concepcion Montaner won the Long Jump with 6.50m (1187 points) to move up three places in the Event Ranking to 11th, while Poland’s Aurelia Trywianska placed 3rd in the 60m Hurdles with 7.93 (1272 points) and so moved up three places to 14th.

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

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