The main changes in the latest edition of the IAAF World Rankings came in the Road Running and Race Walking departments, although a couple of Chinese athletes posted strong performances on the track as well.

Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie’s ran the fastest time of the year when he won the ING Amsterdam Marathon over the weekend. Gebre’s time of 2:06:20 is worth 1376 points in Performance Score, which allowed the 32-year-old former World and Olympic champion to enter the Men’s Road Running Event Rankings in 3rd place behind Jaouad Gharib and Martin Lel. Japan’s Toshiniari Takaoka formerly lay in second place but dropped out of the Rankings this week for not having enough competitions under his belt during the last 365 days. The 35-year-old competed in two marathons this year but ran in no other Road Running Events, thereby allowing Martin Lel to move up to second without competing the past fortnight.

Another Kenyan, Felix Limo, is also on the rise in the Event Rankings. Limo has experienced a bit of a rollercoaster ride in during the past month, as he fell from 4th all the way to 31st, but jumped back into 5th this week after winning the Chicago Marathon.  Limo finished in 2:07:02 (1361 points) and is only points away from Fabiano Joseph Naasi and Haile Gebrselassie in the Event Rankings.

Limo’s compatriot, Patrick Ivuti is also a newcomer to the Road Running Event Rankings. The 27-year-old set a personal best and also ran the 10th fastest time of the year when he finished 5th in Chicago with 2:07:46 (1281 points), thereby entering the Rankings in 11th place just ahead of William Kipsang, who dropped from 6th to 12th this week for not repeating his second place finish from Amsterdam a year ago. Instead of Kipsang, it was his compatriot Daniel Yego who took the silver medal in the Dutch capital this time around. The 34-year-old Yego is competing in his first (!) international season, but already has two marathon finishes under his belt. In Amsterdam his time of 2:08:58 (1301 points) was just outside of his personal best, and allowed the “rookie” to jump from 92nd into 25th place in the Event Rankings.

Kenya’s Jimmy Mwangangi Muindi could not hold on to his 7th place and fell to 30th this week for not repeating his fourth place finish from Chicago last year, but his compatriot Boniface Usisivu made a new entry into the Event Rankings in 45th place. Usisivu won the Eindhoven Marathon – category B event – in 2:08:45 (1270 points) which counted as his third competition during the past 365-days, making him eligible for the Rankings.

In the Women’s Road Running Event Rankings, China’s Chunxiu Zhou overtook Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba for 3rd place after finishing second in the Beijing International Marathon in 2:21:11 (1340 points). The victory went to her compatriot Yingjie Sun (2:21:01 – 1363 points) and both of them completed a unique double competition by taking part in the Nanjing Chinese National Games. Just a day after winning the Marathon Sun finished second in the 10,000m with 31:03.90 (1231 points) and moved up one spot to 20th in the Women’s 5000 – 10 000m Event Rankings, while Chunxiu Zhou placed 3rd in 31:09.03 (1223 points). The 10 000m victory went to Huina Xing in 31:00.73 (1238 points) who thereby entered the Event Rankings in 12th place, well ahead of her main rival Yingjie Sun.

In the Road Running Event Rankings, Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu improved one place to 5th after winning the 10 miles at the Portsmouth BUPA Great South Run in 51:27 (1225 points).  With Tulu moving up, both Susan Chepkemei and Yumiko Hara dropped back a spot each to 6th and 7th respectively, while Japan’s Masako Chiba improved nine places to 14th. Chiba finished third in the Chicago Marathon in 2:26:00 (1258 points) and is currently the fourth Japanese runner in the top 15 of the Event Rankings.

There was a strong US performance in the windy city, with the win going to home-crowd favourite Deena Drossin-Kastor. The 2004 Olympic bronze medallist clocked 2:21:25 (1357 points) but is not eligible for the Event Rankings as she does not have at least 3 results over the past 365 days. Another American runner, Colleen De Reuck finished 4th in 2:28:40 (1210 points) and entered the Road Running Event Rankings in 39th, while her compatriot Blake Phillips-Russell was only seconds back in 6th with 2:29:10 (1188 points) and improved to 37th in the Rankings. 

Other newcomers into the Women’s Road Running Event Rankings include Japan’s Eri Hayakawa in 27th spot after finishing right between Phillips-Russell and De Reuck in 5th place in Chicago with 2:28:50 (1198 points). Ethiopia’s Kutre Dulecha entered only a single point behind Hayakawa in 28th although winning the Amsterdam Marathon in a modest time of 2:30:06 (1247 points), while Italy’s Bruna Genovese was the winner of the Cremona Half Marathon in 1:11:22 (1154 points) and  edged up to 29th in the Event Rankings. 27-year-old Shujing Zhang stepped up more than a dozen places to 32nd after barely missing out on the podium at the Beijing International Marathon. Zhang competed in her third Marathon of the season and ran a season’s best of 2:27:41 (1222 points).

In the Men’s Race Walking Event Rankings, Norway’s Trond Nymark won the 50km at the Copenhagen Nordic Race Walking Championships. Nymark’s time of 3:49:36 (1231 points) is well of his national record time of 3:44:04 from Helsinki, but the 28-year-old still moved into second place in the Event Rankings overtaking Jefferson Pérez, Nathan Deakes and Juan Manuel Molina. Event leader Francisco Javier Fernández is well clear at the top, commanding a lead of 47 points over his nearest challenger, Nymark.

In the Women’s Hammer Throw Event Rankings, World Junior Record holder Wenxiu Zhang strengthened her 6th place by finishing second at the Nanjing Chinese National Games. Zhang threw 71.84m (1151 points) but was beaten by World University Games silver medallist Yinghui Liu (72.17m – 1160 points) who only has four throws over 70 meters. With the win Liu moved up to 18th place in the Event Rankings.

Please click here for the latest IAAF World Rankings

Men's Event Rankings
2.	(3.)	Martin LEL (KEN)	RR	1305	(1305)
3.	( - )	Haile GEBRSELASSIE (ETH)	RR	1290	( - )
5.	(31.)	Felix LIMO (KEN)	RR	1285	(1206)
11.	( - )	Patrick IVUTI (KEN)	RR	1250	( - )
25.	(92.)	Daniel YEGO (KEN)	RR	1221	(1120)
45.	( - )	Boniface USISIVU (KEN)	RR	1165	( - )
2.	(5.)	Trond NYMARK (NOR)	RW	1297	(1277)
Women's Event Rankings
12.	( - )	Huina XING (CHN)	5-10,000m	1275	( - )
20.	(21.)	Yingjie SUN (CHN)	5-10,000m	1245	(1232)
6.	(6.)	Wenxiu ZHANG (CHN)	HT	1216	(1212)
18.	(25.)	Yinghui LIU (CHN)	HT	1116	(1084)
3.	(4.)	Chunxiu ZHOU (CHN)	RR	1331	(1299)
4.	(3.)	Catherine NDEREBA (KEN)	RR	1321	(1321)
5.	(6.)	Derartu TULU (ETH)	RR	1295	(1274)
6.	(5.)	Susan CHEPKEMEI (KEN)	RR	1287	(1287)
7.	(6.)	Yumiko HARA (JPN)	RR	1274	(1274)
14.	(23.)	Masako CHIBA (JPN)	RR	1236	(1205)
19.	(24.)	Elfenesh ALEMU (ETH)	RR	1212	(1204)
27.	( - )	Eri HAYAKAWA (JPN)	RR	1200	( - )
28.	( - )	Kutre DULECHA (ETH)	RR	1199	( - )
29.	(37.)	Bruna GENOVESE (ITA)	RR	1197	(1171)
32.	(48.)	Shujing ZHANG (CHN)	RR	1186	(1154)
37.	(51.)	Blake PHILLIPS-RUSSELL (USA)	RR	1178	(1147)
39.	( - )	Colleen DE REUCK (USA)	RR	1175	( - )