6. CROSS COUNTRY

6.1. RANKING METHOD

In force from 1 January 2024.

Due to the substantial differences between cross country courses, athletes are awarded straight Performance Scores.

Athletes’ performances are considered from the World Cross Country Championships, Area Championships, National Championships, World Athletics Cross Country Tour competitions and other competitions as listed in the Categories of Competitions (Table 6.2.).

6.2. PERFORMANCE SCORE

1. Performance Score is awarded for the placing achieved by the athlete at a competition.
2. Competitions are categorised, and the Performance Scores are different in each Category. There are 4 different categories for the purposes of Performance Scores. The Performance Scores obtainable at each competition vary according to the level and significance of the competition. The category “GW” reflects the strongest competitions and consequently awards the most points. For example, the Performance Scores available at the World Cross Country Championships are much higher than those at any other competition. See 6.3. - Categories of Competitions.
3. In Area Championships, Games and National Championship, Performance Scores can only be awarded to athletes representing their home Country or Area respectively. Athletes representing a foreign Member Federation or other Areas are regarded as out of competition participants (OC) and do not receive Performance Scores, regardless of their original position indicated in the official results of the competition.
4. In case a competition belongs to more than one Category, the most favourable Performance Score is considered for each athlete based on the positions achieved in the different classifications.

Table 6.1. Performance Scores for Cross Country Events in the Final of the competitions

6.3. CATEGORIES OF COMPETITIONS

Placing Scores are distributed according to the categorisation of competitions, subject to the following:

1. World Athletics has the exclusive right to determine to which Category a given competition should be assigned. Categorisation of Area Permit competitions (Championships, Games and invitation meetings) will be agreed with the corresponding Area Association.
2. During a calendar year, only one National Senior Championships per each Member Federation can award Performance Scores according to the Categorisation as shown below. In case a Member Federation organizes more than one National Championships, or an equivalent type of competition (e.g. trials), in any discipline within one calendar year, the first such competition is regarded as the National Championships unless the MF informs the World Athletics otherwise, prior to the beginning of the season.
3. Only those events of a competition are entitled to receive the Category as listed below – and thus the corresponding Performance Scores – which are held primarily for the purpose of the competition for which the corresponding Category was awarded. Extra or supplementary events, national or youth events during international invitational meetings, etc. are not considered.

Table 6.2. Categories of Competitions

6.4. EVENT GROUPS AND REQUIRED NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES

Cross Country Event Rankings are produced in two Event Groups and in order to be ranked, athletes must collect three (3) Performance Scores in the Ranking Period as described in 6.5.

Table 6.3. Cross Country Event Groups and required number of performances

6.5. RANKING PERIOD

6.5.1. Ranking Period

Only those Performance Scores are considered, which were obtained by the athlete in an 18 months period prior to the date of the Rankings.

6.5.2. Area Senior Cross Country Championships

In order to ensure that performances achieved at the Area Senior Cross Country Championships are calculated in the Rankings, the latest editions of the Area Senior Cross Country Championships are included in the Rankings calculation regardless of whether they fall in the Events’ respective Ranking Period, given that they were held within 3 full calendar years (e.g. after 1st January in the 3rd year prior to the date of the Rankings).

6.6. RANKING SCORE

1. The Rankings are based on the Ranking Scores. Athletes are ranked in the Event Rankings by their Ranking Scores.
2. The Ranking Score is the average of Performance Scores.
3. In order to be ranked, athletes must collect a sufficient number of Performance Scores and some of them must come from Main Events. Athletes who do not collect enough performances, cannot have a valid Ranking Score, and are thus ineligible for ranking. See details for each Event Group in the corresponding section.
4. When calculating the Ranking Score the following factors are considered:
   • Required number of performances for Ranking
   • Ranking period
5. Tie break in case of same Ranking Score 
   In case two or more athletes have equal Ranking Scores, the tie for their Ranking position will be resolved in favour of the athlete with the best Performance Score. If the best Performance Scores are also equal, then the second best Performance Scores decide, and so on. If all Performance Scores used to make up the athlete's Ranking Score are equal, then the tie is not broken and the athletes remain ranked in the same position.