Posted: February 28, 2006

Athletics: Arnold Hurdles Ahead Of Doucouré In Latest IAAF World Ranking

Monte-Carlo - In the latest round of IAAF World Rankings, several top athletes strengthened their positions in their respective Event Rankings, however, a considerable number also dropped significantly through the ranks.

France’s Ladji Doucouré lost his Event Ranking lead after dropping a single point. The World 110m Hurdles champion was tied for first place with Dominique Arnold but is now a point behind the American after the Frenchman’s win from last year’s Liévin meeting became too old to be counted. Doucouré won his home indoor meet in 2005 with 7.42 (1335 points), but has not run the hurdles this indoor season.

Anwar Moore finished third behind Terrence Trammell and Arnold in USA Indoor Championships with 7.52 (1235 points), so strengthening his 12th place in the sprint hurdles Event Ranking, and closing the gap on Matheus Facho Inocencio of Brazil in 11th place by two points.

In the women’s High Jump at the US Indoor Championships, Chaunte Howard won with 1.95m (1179 points) and equalled her season’s best. The 22-year-old World Championships silver medallist thereby overtook Russia’s Anna Chicherova by a single point, and is now in second place in the Event Ranking behind Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist.

Marian Oprea reinforced his grasp on the Men’s Triple Jump Event Ranking. The Romanian increased his lead by a point over Brazil’s Jadel Gregório after a successful week. The 23-year-old first won the Balkan Indoor Championships in Athens with 17.51m (1236 points), before winning in Gent with 17.42m (1301 points). Oprea’s win in Belgium is also the best male performance of the week ahead of Aleksandr Averbukh’s victory in the Pole Vault at the same venue.

Averbukh comfortably won in Gent with 5.81m (1300 points), which is his best mark since clearing 5.86m in 2001 for the national record. The win moves the Israeli pole-vaulter up nine places to 19th, only two places behind Australia’s Paul Burgess who dropped six places this week in the Event Ranking. Another triple jumper improving this past weekend is France’s Karl Taillepierre. The 29-year-old won the French Indoor Championships with a personal best of 16.90m (1184 points), improving his previous best by a single centimetre, and moved up four places to 9th in the Event Ranking.

Taillepierre’s compatriot, Salim Sdiri, also won at the French indoor nationals and improved in the Long Jump Event Ranking to 5th spot. Sdiri finished with 8.23m (1215 points) and is now tied with Spain’s Joan Lino Martinez behind Helsinki bronze medallist Tommi Evila of Finland.

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

Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest