Monaco - Ivan Tikhon of the Belarus and Olga Kuzenkova of Russia are, respectively, the new leaders of the men’s and women’s Hammer Throw Event Rankings. Although Tikhon did compete over the past week and won the Bydgoszcz European Athletics Festival with 78.39m (1194 points), it was not so much his current performance that earned him the top spot, but his results over the past 365 days.

Previous leader Koji Murofushi dropped 15 points this week for not repeating his stellar performance from last year, when he won the Japanese Championships with 82.09m (1272 points). While the Olympic champion defended his domestic title this year, 76.47m (1183 points) was not enough to maintain his lead and the 28-year-old from Belarus took control of the event.

Defending World champion Yipsi Moreno also lost her leading position in the women’s Hammer Throw Event Rankings. Moreno dropped points as her 73.81m (1263 points) victory in Sevilla last season turned over a year old, and the Cuban hasn’t been unable to repeat her performance so far this season. In Moreno’s absence it was Germany’s Betty Heidler who won the Sevilla Meeting de Atletismo with 72.08m (1234 points) and overtook Kamila Skolimowska for third place. With Moreno dropping to second, it is the reigning Olympic champion Olga Kuzenkova of Russia who replaced her at the top of the table.

The Eugene Prefontaine Classic was one of the top meets over the past week and it certainly supplied some of the best performances. Reigning Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin equalled the fastest time of the season when winning in 9.84 (1354 points), with an illegal wind of +3.4m/s. The win allowed Gatlin to move up one place to 4th overtaking compatriot Shawn Crawford in the 100m Event Rankings, while Asafa Powell - second to Gatlin in Eugene with 9.84 (1334 points) - still heads the table.

Lauryn Williams of the United States overtook Christine Arron and Ivet Lalova to move into 4th position in the women’s 100m Event Rankings, after she won at Prefontaine in 11.16 (1273 points).

Bershawn Jackson also pleased the home crowd at the Prefontaine Classic by winning the 400m Hurdles in 47.91seconds (1327 points). With the win, Jackson improved his average by ten points and moved up two places to 6th in the Event Rankings. His time is the second fastest this season behind his own personal best, which he set a month ago in California.

Brad Walker set a new personal best in the men’s Pole Vault in Eugene, which is also the second highest vault of the outdoor season. The 23-year-old cleared 5.90m (1326 points) to clinch victory and also to move up five places to 7th in the Event Rankings.

Salome Chepchumba made a strong entry into the women’s 3000m Steeplechase Event Rankings. The 22-year-old Kenyan joined the list in 4th place after finishing 5th in the Milano Grand Prix Regione Lombardia with 6:21.93 (1151 points). Interestingly in a traditionally African dominated event Chepchumba is the first non-European in 4th place, as the top three is comprised of a Romanian, a Hungarian and a Portuguese.

In the men’s Steeplechase Event Rankings, Obaid Musa Amer of Qatar moved up two places to 11th, while Antonio David Jiménez of Spain edged up three places to 14th. Amer placed 5th in Sevilla with 8:13.09 (1257 points), just ahead of Jiménez who clocked 8:14.05 (1247 points) in sixth place.

Also in Sevilla, Daniel Kipchirchir Komen of Kenya set yet another superb time when winning the 1500m in 3:31.46 (1324 points). Komen already has the fastest time of the year with 3:30.77 from Doha last month, but this latest result allows the 20-year-old to move up two places to 8th in the Event Rankings.

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Selected noteworthy changes:

(In brackets the last week's position and the last week's Ranking Scores of the athletes)