HERE’S A COLLECTION of numbers & facts generated by the decade that concluded with the ’19 season, most of them relating to our famous T&FN World Rankings which have been enlightening the planet since the ’47 campaign. Note that after-the-fact doping retestings years down the road have caused quite a few to lose their positions. These numbers reflect revised Rankings, not the originals that appeared in the magazine at the time (note also that there are several people mentioned here with pending cases that could downgrade their scores):
MOST WORLD RANKINGS POINTS
10 places, scored 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, so a perfect score would be 100. These are points in a single event:
Men
1. Christian Taylor (TJ) 89; 2. Renaud Lavillenie (PV) 87; 3. Mutaz Barshim (HJ) 77; 4. Paweł Fajdek (HT) 72; 5. Piotr Małachowski (DT) 71; 6. Will Claye (TJ) 70; 7. Asbel Kiprop (1500) 69; 8. Conseslus Kipruto (steeple) 68; 9. Usain Bolt (100) 65; 10. tie, Justin Gatlin (100) & Robert Harting (DT) 64.
Women
1. Anita Włodarczyk (HT) 89; 2. Sandra Perković (DT) 87; 3. Lijiao Gong (SP) 86; 4. Caterine Ibargüen (TJ) 83; 5. Brittney Reese (LJ) 80; 6. Barbora Špotáková (JT) 71; 7. tie, Valerie Adams (SP) & Hong Liu 66 (20W); 9. Betty Heidler 65 (HT); 10. Zuzana Hejnová (400H) 61.
PREMIUM POINTS SCORED
This methodology scores just the top 3 places in the Rankings, 5-3-1:
Men
1. Taylor 43; 2. Lavillenie 37; 3. tie, Kiprop, Barshim & Fajdek 29; 6. tie, Mo Farah (5000), Farah (10,000) & Eliud Kipchoge (marathon) 28; 9. tie, Bolt (200), David Rudisha (800) & Ashton Eaton (decathlon) 26.
Women
1. Perković 39; 2. Włodarczyk 36; 3. Špotáková 33; 4. Ibargüen 32; 5. Reese 31; 6. Adams 28; 7. Liu 27; 8. tie, Mariya Lasitskene (HJ) & Heidler 25; 10. Gong 24.
MOST YEARS IN RANKINGS
Only 4 superstars—Lavillenie on the men’s side, Reese, Gong & Włodarczyk on the women’s—were able to score in all 10 years of the decade, compared to 6 in the Noughties. Another 13 (7 men, 6 women) made it 9 times. Those with 8 or more appearances:
Men
10—Lavillenie;
9—Barshim, Claye, Alexis Copello (TJ), Taylor, David Storl (SP), Małachowski, Dilshod Nazarov (HT);
8—Mike Rodgers (100), Marcin Lewandowski (800), Silas Kiplagat (1500), Kiprop, Kipruto, Orlando Ortega (110H), Sergey Shubenkov (110H), Wilson Kipsang (marathon), Matej Tóth (50W), Konstadínos Filippídis (PV), Ryan Whiting (SP), Harting, Fajdek.
Women
10—Reese, Gong & Włodarczyk;
9—Ana Cabecinha (20W), Silva, Ibargüen, Nadine Müller (DT), Perković & Dani Stevens (DT);
8—Murielle Ahouré (100), Blessing Okagbare (100), Jenny Simpson (1500), Sofia Assefa (steeple), Hyvin Jepkemoi (steeple), Hejnová, Ruth Beitia (HJ), Darya Klishina (LJ), Ivana Španović (LJ), Olha Saladukha (TJ), Kim Williams (TJ), Adams, Michelle Carter (SP), Wenxiu Zhang (SP), Špotáková & Sunette Viljoen (JT).
MOST RANKING NO. 1s
In one event only (*=titles were consecutive). Note that Farah had 10 combined & Bolt 8 combined.
Men
8—Taylor; 7—Lavillenie*; 5—Bolt (200), Rudisha, Kiprop, Farah (5000), Farah (10,000), Kipchoge*, Harting*; 4—Kipruto, Barshim*, Fajdek, Krisztián Pars* (HT), Eaton.
Women
7—Perković*; 6—Reese, Włodarczyk*, Špotáková; 5—Lasitskene, Ibargüen, Adams*; 4—Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (100), Caster Semenya (800), Keni Harrison* (100H), Liu, Jessica Ennis-Hill (heptathlon).
NUMBER OF LEADERS PER EVENT
Men’s events averaged 5.3 different leaders; women’s events averaged 5.25.
Men
9—20W, JT; 7—110H, 400H, 50W, LJ, SP; 6—400, Mar; 5—100, 200, 800, St, 5000, 10,000, HJ, DT, Dec; 4—1500, HT; 2—PV, TJ.
Women
9—Mar; 8—1500; 7—PV; 6—200, 400, 5000, 10,000, 400H, 20W; 5—100, 800, St, 100H, HJ; 4—LJ, TJ, SP, DT, Hept; 3—HT, JT.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR POINTS
Men
1. Bolt 42; 2. Farah 39; 3. Rudisha 31; 4. Eaton 29; 5. tie, Harting & Kipchoge 24; 7. tie, Taylor & Wayde van Niekerk 21; 9. Bogdan Bondarenko 19; 10. Barshim 18.
Women
1. Włodarczyk 41; 2. Adams 37; 3. Perković 28; 4. Ibargüen 23; 5. tie, Allyson Felix & Lasitskene 21; 7. tie, Almaz Ayana, Fraser-Pryce & Semenya 19; 10. Ennis-Hill 17.
MOST YEARS IN AOY VOTING TOP 10
Men
6—Farah
5—Bolt, Kipchoge & Taylor
4—Eaton, Harting & Rudisha
3—Barshim, Lavillenie & van Niekerk
Women
6—Perković
5—Ibargüen & Włodarczyk
4—Adams
3—Ayana, Felix, Fraser-Pryce, Lasitskene & Semenya
PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR
These were the best marks of each year as chosen at the time:
Men
2010 — David Rudisha 1:41.01 WR 800
2011 — Yohan Blake 19.26 200
2012 — David Rudisha 1:40.91 WR 800
2013 — Teddy Tamgho 59-2¼ (18.04) triple jump
2014 — Renaud Lavillenie 20-2½ (6.16) WR vault
2015 — Ashton Eaton 9045 WR decathlon
2016 — Wayde van Niekerk 43.03 WR 400
2017 — Johannes Vetter 309-10 (94.44) javelin
2018 — Eliud Kipchoge 2:01:39 WR marathon
2019 — Joe Kovacs 75-2 (22.91) shot
Women
2010 — Anita Włodarczyk 256-11 (78.30) WR hammer
2011 — Sally Pearson 12.28 100H
2012 — Allyson Felix 21.69 200
2013 — Brianna McNeal 12.26 AR 100H
2014 — Anita Włodarczyk 261-1 (79.58) WR hammer
2015 — Genzebe Dibaba 3:50.07 WR 1500
2016 — Almaz Ayana 29:17.45 WR 10,000
2017 — Mary Keitany 2:17:01 marathon
2018 — Beatrice Chepkoech 8:44.32 WR steeple
2019 — Dalilah Muhammad 52.16 WR 400H
PERFORMANCES OF THE DECADE
As the preceding marks chronology showed, there were no end of stunning performances (including some non-winners that weren’t even listed here) to choose from as the best of the best from the last 10 years.
Men
The men’s choice was clear to us, but by no means easy. The decision was made as much for how the mark was accomplished as was the quality of the mark as a number. As Phil Minshull wrote in our ’12 Olympic Edition, “It was quite simply the greatest race ever seen over 2 laps of the track and the man who brought them all home was David Rudisha. The Kenyan WR holder/reigning world champ decided to run the legs off everyone else in the 800 field and was rewarded with the phenomenal time of 1:40.91.” His leading-all-the-way splits: 23.5, 25.8 (49.28), 25.02 (1:14.30), 26.61. His laps were covered in 49.28 and 51.63.
Women
On the women’s side, here’s what Sieg Lindstrom wrote about the Rio women’s 10K: “The first running final of the Games kickstarted the proceedings in pick-your-jaw-up-off-the-floor fashion.” Almaz Ayana’s negative-split (14:47.1/14:30.4) 10K WR was not only the best performance, it was also judged to be the best of the decade. But not by much, as Beatrice Chepkoech’s crushing of the steeple WR with her 8:44.32 was a close second choice.
THANKS TO ALL OUR HELPERS!
The T&FN editorial staff gives a hearty thanks to all those who contributed to this decadent undertaking: the World Rankings crew of Jonathan Berenbom, Richard Hymans, Dave Johnson & Nejat Kök; walk expert Bob Bowman; road guru Sean Hartnett; all-around stat maven Jim Rorick.
And thanks, of course, to all the unbelievable athletes whose unbelievable feats made it another 10 years well spent on Planet Earth. See you again with our ’20s choices a decade from now! ◻︎
