Monte Carlo - The main share of the changes in this week’s IAAF World Rankings took place in the Road Running – Marathon Event Ranking, as the highest ranked competition over the past two weeks was the 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

Lornah Kiplagat (NED) not only collected her first World Championships gold medal and reclaimed her World 20km record from Paula Radcliffe (GBR) but rose to the top of the Women’s Road Running – Marathon Event Ranking following her win at the inaugural IAAF World Road Running Championships over the weekend.

The Kenyan-born runner has been competing for the Netherlands since 2003 and moved up from third place in the Event Ranking to take the lead after finishing first in Hungary with 1:03:21 (1430 points), while bronze medallist Rita Sitienei Jeptoo (KEN) also made a significant improvement. The 25-year-old moved into 5th place in the Event Ranking after finishing third in Debrecen with 1:03:47 (1333 points).

On the men’s side, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) managed to hold onto his lead despite not competing since the Berlin Marathon, but Zersenay Tadesse entered the Ranking in second place after winning in Hungary in 56:01 (1421 points). Tadesse was only one of five new entrants in the Top-15 of the men’s Event Ranking, and also became the very first Eritrean World champion in any major sport, and the highest ranked athlete ever from his country in the history of the IAAF World Rankings.

Other newcomers include Benson Barus (KEN) who finished second at the Milan Marathon with 2:08:33 (1309 points) and is 5th this week, while three of his compatriots; Wilson Kiprotich Kebenei, Wilfred Taragon, and Benson Cherono were also unranked only two weeks ago. Kebenei was 3rd in Debrecen with 57:15 (1311 points) and moves into 7th place, Taragon was 5th with 57:22 (1281 points) and enters in 10th, while Cherono won in Milan with 2:07:58 (1342 points) and stands in 14th place this week.

There are also a number of newcomers in the Women’s Road Running – Marathon Event Rankings this week. One of the favourites to take the World title, Kayoko Fukushi (JPN) entered the Ranking in 9th place, just ahead of Kenya’s Edith Masai. In the race the pair finished in the opposite order with Masai taking 5th in 1:05:21 (1266 points) and Fukushi closely behind her in 1:05:32 (1252 points).

Fukushi was not the only Japanese newcomer this week, as her compatriot Yurika Nakamura also entered the Event Ranking. Nakamura moved into 15th place after finishing 7th in Debrecen with 1:05:36 (1245 points), while Nataliya Berkut (UKR) is just ahead of her in 14th following her 8th place finish in Hungary with 1:05:42 (1237 points).

The home fans were rewarded with Aniko Kalovics finishing in 11th in Debrecen with a new national record of 1:06:20, and the result allowed Kalovics to enter the Event Ranking in 20th place, just behind Weiwei Sun (CHN), who placed second at the Cologne Marathon with 2:29:45 (1161 points).

The only significant non-Road Running – Marathon Event Rankings change among the women took place in Race Walking. Kjersti Plätzer-Tysse followed up her top female Race Walking performance of the September award with yet another good result. The Norwegian won the 20km Kobenhavn Nordic Race Walking Championships in Denmark with 1:28:23 (1228 points) and moved up two places to third in the Event Ranking.

Please click here for the latest IAAF World Rankings

Selected changes:

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