LONDON ’17 SAW the debut of the women’s 50 at a very late date, and there were so few competitors that we didn’t feel it quite right to give full World Ranking status to such a poorly-thought-out introduction. But with a year’s notice, the event crept another step closer to real parity. As we did when the women’s pole vault, triple jump and hammer came on the scene, we restricted the 50’s Rankings to a Top 5 instead of 10 for ’18 and have continued with that policy for this year…
MAOCUO LI AND RUI LIANG split their two meetings on the year. Liang, last year’s No. 1, won the bigger of the two, but in a tough decision was relegated to No. 2 because of her mediocre 7th in the Huangshan race… Bronze medalist Eleonora Giorgi gets No. 3…
THE YEAR’S TWO SUB-4:00 performers round things out. Hong Liu’s mark has been ratified as the World Record, but Klavdiya Afanasyeva’s faster time wasn’t officiated by judges of sufficient international caliber.
| JUMP TO U.S. RANKINGS | VIEW WORLD TOP 50 LIST | VIEW U.S. TOP 50 LIST |
| 1. MAOCUO LI (China) (10/20/92) | |||||
| 4:03:51 | … | 2)Huangshan | 3/10 | ▷ | 1. Liu |
| 4:26:40 | … | 2)World Ch | 9/28 | ▷ | 1. Liang |
| 2. RUI LIANG (China) (6/18/94, 5-3/110) (1.60/50) | |||||
| 4:19:34 | … | 7)Huangshan | 3/10 | ▷ | 1. Liu; 2. M. Li; 3. Ma; 4. Jiang; 5. Bai; 6. Wang |
| 4:23:26 | … | 1)World Ch | 9/28 | ||
| 3. ELEONORA GIORGI (Italy) (9/14/89, 5-4/115) (1.63/52) | |||||
| 4:04:50 | … | 1)Euro Cup | 5/19 | ||
| 4:29:13 | … | 3)World Ch | 9/28 | ▷ | 1. Liang; 2. Li |
| 4. HONG LIU (China) (5/12/87, 5-3¼/106) (1.61/48) | |||||
| 3:59:15 | … | 1)Huangshan | 3/10 | ||
| 5. KLAVDIYA AFANASYEVA (Russia) (1/15/96) | |||||
| 3:57:08 | … | 1)Rus Ch | 6/15 | ||
| U.S. RANKINGS | ||||
| 1. | Robyn Stevens (Salming) | |||
| 1)USATF | ||||
| 2. | Stephanie Casey (unattached) | |||
| 2)USATF, 6)Pan-Am Cup, 9)Pan-Am Games | ||||
| 3. | Katie Burnett (Harrier TC) | |||
| dnf)USATF, 4:29:45, 9)Pan-Am Cup | ||||
| 4. | Lydia McGranahan (unattached) | |||
| 3)USATF, 10)Pan-Am Cup | ||||
| 5. | Molly Josephs (Walk USA) | |||
| 4)USATF | ||||
