Posted: July 5, 2005

Athletics: Bekele Retakes The Overall Lead From Powell In The Latest IAAF World Rankings

Monte Carlo - The start of the TDK Golden League circuit in Paris last Friday led to a number of significant changes including a new number one in the IAAF Men’s Overall World Ranking, as well as four new Event leaders: Ezekiel Kemboi, Andreas Thorkildsen, Isabella Ochichi and Tatyana Tereshchuk-Antipova.

World 100m record holder Asafa Powell’s reign at the top of the Overall IAAF World Ranking came to an end as Kenenisa Bekele moved up from 4th place to retake the lead. Bekele lost his leading position less than a month ago, after losing points after not repeating his World 5000m record in Hengelo and his 10,000m win in Ostrava from 2004. Bekele compensated for some of those lost points by winning in Paris with the fourth fastest 5000m time ever (12:40.18 – 1464 points). In the process he overtook Christian Olsson, Saif Saaeed Shaheen and Asafa Powell to take the lead in the Men’s Overall World Ranking. Bekele’s result is the second highest point total of the season, behind only Powell’s World record from Athens (9.77 – 1482 points)

Ezekiel Kemboi had an easier task ahead of him, as the previous 3000m Steeplechase Event Ranking leader Saif Saaeed Shaheen dropped out of the Event Ranking for not having enough competitions over the past 365 days. Therefore Kemboi’s win in Paris with 8:09.14 (1390 points) was enough to lift the Kenyan from 3rd place into 1st. Kemboi’s compatriot Julius Nyamu and Kipkurui Misoi also moved up three places to 4th and 5th respectively in the Event Ranking, after finishing 6th (8:15.29 – 1292 points) and 3rd (8:10.02 – 1346 points) at the Paris TDK Golden League meeting.

After placing second in Paris, Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen regained his leading position in the Javelin Throw Event Ranking which he lost just three weeks ago. Furthermore, four of the top five ranked athletes in the Men’s Javelin Throw Event Ranking improved on their scores this week, with only Breaux Greer of the United States remaining stationary. Thorkildsen finished with 85.29m (1298 points) and overtook previous leader Sergey Makarov of Russia, who was fourth in Paris with 83.89m (1253 points). The event was won by Tero Pitkämäki of Finland with 85.59m (1333 points) who moved up one place to 3rd, while another Russian, Aleksandr Ivanov who finished third in Paris with 84.24m (1268 points), improved one spot to 5th behind Greer.

IAAF World Rankings