ONLY 19 AT THE TIME, Koki Ikeda made his first race outside of Japan a successful one when he beat a pair of former World Rankers in Lugano. Two months later, just 3 days past his 20th birthday, he beat the best the world had to offer as he strolled to a convincing 9-second win at the World Team Championships in Taicang, China. That made him the first Japanese No. 1 ever…
JAPAN’S CONTINUING EMERGENCE as a walk force was solidified when Ikeda was joined by Toshikazu Yamanishi (No. 4), Isamu Fujisawa (No. 7) and Eiki Takahashi (No. 10) to win the by-nation scoring title. That made them the first nation with a quartet of scorers here since Russia in ’96… Speaking of Russia, list leader Sergey Shirobokov (1:17:25) also had the year’s No. 5 time (1:18:53) but wasn’t considered for the Rankings because he wasn’t cleared to compete outside of home…
THE WORLD TEAM CHAMPS was obviously the most important race of the year and places 1–4 came directly from that finish before Euro Champ Álvaro Martín slipped in at No. 5… Defending No. 1 Eider Arévalo was only 12th in Taicang and ended up at No. 8… The U.S. hasn’t had a Ranker here since ’73.
| JUMP TO U.S. RANKINGS | VIEW WORLD TOP 50 LIST | VIEW U.S. TOP 50 LIST |
| 1. KOKI IKEDA (Japan) (5/03/98) | |||||
| 1:19:13 | … | 4)Jpn Ch | 2/18 | ▷ | 1. Takahashi; 2. Yamanishi; 3. Matsunaga |
| 1:21:26 | … | 1)Lugano | 3/11 | ||
| 1:21:13 | … | 1)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ||
| 2. KAIHUA WANG (China) (2/16/94, 5-10¾/143) (1.80/65) | |||||
| 1:19:45 | … | 1)Huangshan | 3/03 | ||
| 1:21:22 | … | 2)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda |
| 1:25:55 | … | 8)Chifeng | 7/02 | ▷ | 1. Yin; 2. Peng 3. Lu; 4. Sun; 5. Zeng; 6. Cao; 7. Zhao |
| 1:22:04 | … | 1)Asian G | 8/29 | ||
| 1:25:11 | … | 4)Suzhou | 9/24 | ▷ | 1. Shange; 2. Arevalo; 3. Palma |
| 3. MASSIMO STANO (Italy) (2/27/92, 5-10¾/132) (1.80/60) | |||||
| 1:21:02 | … | 1)Rome | 3/04 | ||
| 1:21:33 | … | 3)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang |
| 1:20:51 | … | 4)European Ch | 8/11 | ▷ | 1. Martin; 2. Carrera; 3. Mizinov |
| 4. TOSHIKAZU YAMANISHI (Japan) (2/15/96, 5-4½/112) (1.64/51) | |||||
| 1:17:41 | … | 2)Jpn Ch | 2/18 | ▷ | 1. Takahashi |
| 1:21:53 | … | 4)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano |
| 1:22:10 | … | 2)Asian G | 8/29 | ▷ | 1. Wang |
| 5. ÁLVARO MARTÍN (Spain) (6/18/94, 5-11¼/137) (1.81/62) | |||||
| 1:21:48 | … | 1)Castellón | 3/18 | ||
| 1:22:00 | … | 2)Rio Maior | 4/07 | ▷ | 1. Carrera |
| 1:23:22 | … | 8)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano; 4. Yamanishi; 5. Pintado; 6. Jin; 7. Fujisawa |
| 1:20:46 | … | 6)La Coruña | 6/02 | ▷ | 1. Arevalo; 2. Carrera; 3. Noda; 4. Kawano; 5. Jin |
| 1:20:42 | … | 1)European Ch | 8/11 | ||
| 6. XIANGQIAN JIN (China) (3/18/97) | |||||
| 1:20:56 | … | 4)Huangshan | 3/03 | ▷ | 1. Wang; 2. Gao; 3. Cai |
| 1:23:13 | … | 8)Rio Maior | 4/07 | ▷ | 1. Carrera; 2. Martin; 3. Ojeda; 4. Chocho; 5. Doctor; 6. Papamihail; 7. Karlstrom |
| 1:22:35 | … | 6)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano; 4. Yamanishi; 5. Pintado |
| 1:20:24 | … | 5)La Coruña | 6/02 | ▷ | 1. Arevalo; 2. Carrera; 3. Noda; 4. Kawano |
| 1:25:41 | … | 3)Asian G | 8/29 | ▷ | 1. Wang; 2. Yamanishi |
| 1:25:52 | … | 10)Suzhou | 9/24 | ▷ | 1. Shange; 2. Arevalo; 3. Palma; 4. K. Wang; 5. Bird-Smith; 6. Losev; 7. Snyman; 8. Bonfim; 9. Karlstrom |
| 7. ISAMU FUJISAWA (Japan) (10/12/87, 5-5/117) (1.65/53) | |||||
| 1:19:15 | … | 5)Jpn Ch | 2/18 | ▷ | 1. Takahashi; 2. Yamanishi; 3. Matsunaga; 4. Ikeda |
| 1:22:06 | … | 5)Nomi | 3/18 | ▷ | 1. Matsunaga; 2. Oikawa; 3. Kim; 4. Sheiko |
| 1:22:54 | … | 7)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano; 4. Yamanishi; 5. Pintado; 6. Jin |
| 8. EIDER ARÉVALO (Colombia) (3/09/93, 5-5/128) (1.65/58) | |||||
| 1:24:44 | … | 2)Pitalito | 2/18 | ▷ | 1. Montana |
| 1:22:13 | … | 1)Dudince | 3/24 | ||
| 1:23:46 | … | 12)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano; 4. Yamanishi; 5. Pintado; 6. Jin; 7. Fujisawa; 8. Martin; 9. Fortunato; 10. Soto; 11. Pohle |
| 1:19:14 | … | 1)La Coruña | 6/02 | ||
| 1:26:42 | … | 1)CAC G | 8/01 | ||
| 1:23:23 | … | 2)Shuzou | 9/24 | ▷ | 1. Shange |
| 9. DIEGO GARCÍA CARRERA (Spain) (1/19/96, 5-8½/132) (1.74/60) | |||||
| 1:27:52 | … | 1)Móstoles | 2/04 | ||
| 1:23:31 | … | 4)Castellón | 3/18 | ▷ | 1. Martin; 2. Lopez; 3. Amezcua |
| 1:21:15 | … | 1)Rio Maior | 4/07 | ||
| 1:24:37 | … | 23)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano; 4. Yamanishi; 5. Pintado; 6. Jin; 7. Fujisawa; 8. Martin; 9. Fortunato; 10. Soto; 11. Pohle; 12. Arevalo; 13. Arteaga; 14. Bosworth; 15. Shange; 16. Mizinov; 17. Rubino; 18. Takahashi; 19. Lopez; 20. Losev; 21. Ziukas; 22. Amezcua |
| 1:19:18 | … | 2)La Coruña | 6/02 | ▷ | 1. Arevalo |
| 1:20:48 | … | 2)European Ch | 8/11 | ▷ | 1. Martin |
| 10. EIKI TAKAHASHI (Japan) (11/19/92, 5-8¾/123) (1.75/56) | |||||
| 1:17:26 | … | 1)Jpn Ch | 2/18 | ||
| 1:24:07 | … | 18)World Team Ch | 5/06 | ▷ | 1. Ikeda; 2. Wang; 3. Stano; 4. Yamanishi; 5. Pintado; 6. Jin; 7. Fujisawa; 8. Martin; 9. Fortunato; 10. Soto; 11. Pohle; 12. Arevalo; 13. Arteaga; 14. Bosworth; 15. Shange; 16. Mizinov; 17. Rubino |
| 1:27:31 | … | 5)Asian G | 8/29 | ▷ | 1. K. Wang; 2. Yamanishi; 3. Jin; 4. Kim |
