Monte-Carlo - After 97 weeks ranked as the best female athlete in the world, Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva has been replaced at the top of the Overall Rankings by Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia. Isinbayeva’s streak at the top was the longest ever by any woman since the introduction of the IAAF World Rankings in 2001. Dibaba’s rise to the top came as a result of her winning the 5000m at the Roma Golden Gala with 14:52.37 (1372 points) and Yelena Isinbayeva dropping points from last season.

Due to the 365-day-rule, the World Pole Vault record holder’s score from the Madrid meeting 2005 which she won with a then World record (4.95m – 1432 points) is now out of date. Her winning performance in Lausanne last week (4.90m – 1395 points), was not quite enough to stop the Ethiopian from becoming only the second African woman ever to lead the Overall Rankings.

Aside from Dibaba’s rise to the top, there are four new Event Ranking leaders in the men’s category this week.  Tyson Gay, Christian Cantwell, Andreas Thorkildsen and Irving Saladino have all gone from second to first this week as a result of their performances.

Gay was runner up to Xavier Carter in that blisteringly swift men’s 200m in Lausanne last week. Carter ran the second fastest time ever in the world by clocking 19.63 (1454 points) and entered the Men’s 200m Event Ranking in 9th place, while Gay finished runner-up with 19.70 (1418 points), which makes him the fourth fastest in the world ever, and allows the 23-year-old to replace his compatriot Wallace Spearmon at the top.

Another US athlete to move to the top is Christian Cantwell. The former World Indoor champion won in Madrid on Monday night with 21.79m (1368 points) and overtook reigning World champion Adam Nelson to move into the lead in the Shot Put Event. The gap between the two US throwers is only two points.

Finland’s Tero Pitkämäki could only enjoy his lead in the Men’s Javelin Throw Event Ranking for a week. Reigning Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen was in fine form yet again, throwing over 90m for the third time this season – also for the third time in his life. The Norwegian won the Rome Golden Gala with 90.34m (1397 points) and overtook his rival to lead the event by three points.

Reigning World and Olympic champion Dwight Phillips has been leading the Long Jump Event Ranking for exactly 150 weeks, but this stretch has now come to an end. Phillips, who had the second longest streak behind Kenenisa Bekele – currently at 157 weeks – was stopped by Panama’s Irving Saladino. The 23-year-old already has the longest jump of the season, and now added the Golden Gala title to his collection as well, when he won with 8.45m (1391 points). Phillips only managed fourth with 8.32m (1314 points) and now is a single point behind Saladino.
 
China’s Liu Xiang became the first runner to go quicker than 12.90 seconds for the 110m Hurdles. The reigning Olympic champion clocked a World record* of 12.88 (1490 points) to win in Lausanne, the highest points total of the season to date, and moved into second place in the Event Ranking behind Dominique Arnold of the USA. Arnold also ran inside the old World record time by clocking 12.90 (1411 points) and barely held onto his lead in the Ranking.

In the Men’s 100m Event Ranking, Leonard Scott won in Lausanne with 10.05 (1366 points) but was only fifth in Rome with the same time (10.05 – 1303 points), and as a result Scott overtook Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas and Portugal’s Francis Obikwelu for third place in the Event.

On the women’s side, Marion Jones is back in the Top-10 of the 100m Event Ranking. Jones won in Lausanne with 10.94 (1372 points) and was second in Rome with 10.91 (1357 points) allowing her to move into 7th place.

France’s Christine Arron dropped out of the Women’s 200m Event Ranking this week with too few results to her name over the past 365 days, allowing Belgium’s Kim Gevaert to improve from fourth to third. Maria Mutola is back in form and stepped up to second in the Women’s 800m Event. Mutola finished second in Lausanne with 1:56.77 (1356 points), which is her best time since losing in the Olympic final nearly two years ago.

Susanna Kallur is the best European 100m hurdler. The Swede overtook Kirsten Bolm for fourth place in the Event Ranking after winning in Rome with a new personal best of 12.52 (1384 points).

Bulgaria’s Vanya Stambolova keeps rising through the 400m Ranking. The 22-year-old ran her third national outdoor record over the 400m and her eighth in total this year. The World Indoor Championships silver medallist clocked 49.91 (1335 points) and moved up five places to third in the Event.

There are a number of changes in the Top-10 of the Men’s Overall Ranking as well. Jeremy Wariner continued his march towards the top, as only two weeks ago the 22-year-old was in 12th, but now he is up to 5th ahead of Dominique Arnold who, despite increasing his points, dropped a position to 7th. Outside of the Top-10, Terrence Trammell, Andreas Thorkildsen, Rashid Ramzi and Irving Saladino have also improved significantly.

*pending ratification

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Selected changes:

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