Analyzing The 2021 T&FN Rankings

**Keni Harrison has now been No. 1 American in the 100H for 5 straight years.** (KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT)

IN THE PAGES THAT FOLLOW you’ll find all kinds of facts & figures relating to each of the individual Rankings events. Here are some overall stats to whet your appetite, keeping in mind that commentary regards “repeating” and “defenders” is seriously impacted by the absence of ’20 Rankings:

The World Rankings Defenders From ’19
The longest streaks for each sex were broken: triple jumper Christian Taylor at 6, hurdler Keni Harrison at 4.

The 6 world men’s repeaters: Steven Gardiner 400, Soufiane El Bakkali steeple, Grant Holloway 110H, Karsten Warholm 400H, Ryan Crouser SP, Daniel Ståhl DT. They share the longest streaks at 2.

The 5 world women’s repeaters: Shaunae Miller-Uibo 400, Sifan Hassan 10,000, Mariya Lasitskene HJ (4), Malaika Mihambo LJ (3), Lijiao Gong SP (4). Lasitskene & Gong share the longest streaks at 4.

U.S. Men Yet Again Lead By-Nation Scoring

Only twice in the history of our men’s Rankings has Team USA not racked up the most points (scoring each event 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1). Those anomalous years were ’11 & ’14, when Kenya slipped into the top spot. But in all 72 other campaigns, it has been the American squad coming out on top.

The ’11 total of 180 was the lowest ever. The highest ever was 458, in the inaugural year, ’47. This year’s total of 226 is a rise of 14 over ’19’s winning score.

The U.S. placed performers in the Top 10s of 16 of 22 events (the all-time high was 20, in ’72). This year’s shutouts came in these 6 disciplines (year listed is the last in which the U.S. scored): steeple (’19), marathon (’17), 20W (’73), 50W (’01), DT (’18) & JT (’07).

Despite the positive news of its point total rising again, the U.S. had a negative result as well, producing only 2 No. 1s (Grant Holloway & Ryan Crouser), an all-time low. The old low was 3 on several occasions, most recently in ’08. The all-time high was 13 in ’52 and ’56. The last time in double digits was a 10, in ’68… Of note is Canada’s rise to No. 3.

The 53 men’s scoring nations for ’21:
1. US 226; 2. Kenya 102; 3. Canada 72; 4. Ethiopia 60; 5. tie, Australia & Poland 40; 7. Sweden 39; 8. Jamaica 36; 9. tie, Italy & Norway 35; 11. Spain 34; 12. tie, France & Japan 33; 14. tie, Germany & Uganda 31; 16. Russia 24; 17. tie, China & Portugal 19;
19. Cuba 17; 20. tie, Brazil, Great Britain & Grenada 16; 23. Qatar 15; 24. tie, Czech Republic, Netherlands & Ukraine 11; 27. tie, Bahamas, Greece & Morocco 10; 30. tie, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Colombia, India, New Zealand, Slovenia & Trinidad 9;
37. tie, Belgium & Lithuania 8; 39. tie, Algeria, British Virgin Islands & Serbia 7; 42. tie, Austria, Croatia & Moldova 6; 45. tie, Botswana, Estonia, Liberia, South Africa & Turkey 5; 50. tie, Eritrea, Hungary & Philippines 4; 53. South Korea 3.

The U.S. Rankings Defenders
The longest streaks were broken for both sexes: the men’s TJ for Christian Taylor at 10 and the women’s 9 in the steeple by Emma Coburn.

The 8 U.S. men’s repeaters: Hillary Bor steeple, Paul Chelimo 5000 (5), Shadrack Kipchirchir 10K, Grant Holloway 110H, Rai Benjamin 400H, Nick Christie 20W, Ryan Crouser SP (5), Sam Mattis DT. Chelimo & Crouser now have the longest U.S. sequences.

The 11 U.S. women’s repeaters: Karissa Schweizer 5000, Keni Harrison 100H (5), Robyn Stevens 20W, Vashti Cunningham HJ (3), Brittney Reese LJ, Keturah Orji TJ (5), Valarie Allman DT (3), DeAnna Price HT (3). Harrison and Orji share the longest sequence.

The World Doublers
Scoring in the Top 10 in an event is tough; scoring in a pair is tougher, but no fewer than 26 pointed up twice. That includes the even tougher chore of scoring in 3 events, which Sifan Hassan pulled off in the 1500/5000/10,000.

The 11 world men’s doublers:
100/200 — Fred Kerley (2/5), Andre De Grasse (3/1)
100/400 — Michael Norman (9/4)
1500/5000 — Jakob Ingebrigtsen (1/4), Mohamed Katir (6, 8)
5000/10,000 — Joshua Cheptegei (1/2), Moh Ahmed (2/6), Hagos Gebrhiwet (5/9), Jacob Kiplimo (7/3), Berihu Aregawi (10/4)
HJ/LJ— JuVaughn Harrison (9/3)

The 15 world women’s doublers:
100/200 — Elaine Thompson-Herah (1/1), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (2/4), Shericka Jackson (3/5), Marie-Josée Ta Lou (4/6), Dina Asher-Smith (5/8), Mujinga Kambundji (7/9)
200/400 — Shaunae Miller-Uibo (7/1)
400/400H — Shamier Little (9/4)
800/1500 — Laura Muir (8/3)
1500/5000 — Sifan Hassan (2/1)
1500/10,000 — Hassan (2/1)
5000/10,000 — Hassan (1/1), Francine Niyonsaba (2/6), Hellen Obiri (3/5), Gudaf Tsegay (4/4)

Women’s By-Nation Scoring: U.S. Stays On Top

Another good — but not great — year for the U.S. women found them racking up 210 points, more than double the total of runner-up Jamaica (104). That’s the lowest U.S. score since ’13. The all-time high is 248 from ’18.

Team USA scored in 18 of 21 events, tieing the record set in ’19. This year’s 4 shutouts (with year last scored): 5000 (’18), 10,000 ’17) & 20W (never).

The 52 women’s scoring nations for ’21:
1. US 210; 2. Jamaica 104; 3. Kenya 96; 4. Ethiopia 72; 5. tie, China & Netherlands 60; 7. Great Britain 56; 8. Germany 38; 9. Ukraine 35; 10. tie, Australia & Poland 34; 12. Portugal 22; 13. Cuba 21; 14. Russia 20; 15. tie, Belgium & Spain 16; 17. tie, Bahrain & Nigeria 15;
19. tie, Bahamas & Burundi 14; 21. tie, Côte d’Ivoire & Venezuela 12; 23. Switzerland 11; 24. tie, Italy, Namibia & Puerto Rico 10; 27. tie, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Serbia & Sweden 9; 33. France 8;
34. tie, Belarus, Canada, Greece & Uganda 7; 38. tie, Czech Republic & Slovenia 6; 40. tie, Barbados & Israel 5; 42. tie, Hungary & Mexico 4; 44. tie, Finland & Panama 3; 46. tie, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Romania, Turkey & Uzbekistan 2; 51. tie, Austria & Montenegro 1.

The U.S. Doublers
Doubling is traditionally a lot easier at the national level than it is at the international, and such was the case in ’21, as there were 41 such scorers.

The 17 U.S. men’s doublers:
100/200 — Fred Kerley (1/4), Isiah Young (7/6), Kenny Bednarek (8/1), Noah Lyles (10/2)
100/400 — Kerley (1/9), Michael Norman (6/1)
200/400 — Kerley (4/9)
200/400H — Rai Benjamin (10/1)
1500/5000 — Cole Hocker (1/6)
5000/10,000 — Grant Fisher (2/1), Woody Kincaid (3/2), Emmanuel Bor (5/8)
10,000/Mar — Galen Rupp (6/1)
20W/50W — Nick Christie (1/1), AJ Gruttadauro (5/2), Joel Pfahler (10/3)
HJ/LJ — JuVaughn Harrison (1/1)

The 24 U.S. women’s doublers:
100/200 — Sha’Carri Richardson (1/7), Jenna Prandini (4/2), Gabby Thomas (5/1), Cambrea Sturgis (9/9)
200/400 — Allyson Felix (5/1), Lynna Irby (8/8)
400/800 — Athing Mu (5/1)
400/400H — Shamier Little (3/3)
800/1500 — Kate Grace (2/8)
1500/5000 — Josette Norris (1/8), Elise Cranny (7/2)
1500/10,000 — Cranny (7/4)
5000/10,000 — Karissa Schweizer (1/2), Emily Sisson (6/1), Emily Infeld (9/8), Cranny (10/4)
10,000/Mar — Sara Hall (10/3)
100H/400H — Anna Cockrell (4/5), Sydney McLaughlin (9/1)
100H/Hept — Taliyah Brooks (7/9)
LJ/TJ — Keturah Orji (8/1, Jasmine Moore (9/3)
DT/HT — Alyssa Wilson (10/6))
LJ/Hept — Kendell Williams (3/1) ◻︎.