Road to the Olympics: Understanding the new athletics world rankings system (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a two-part series explaining the Olympic qualification for athletics in Tokyo. As detailed in Part 1 of this series, athletics has a new qualification system in place for Tokyo where about 50% of the athletes would qualify on the basis of World Rankings. This article attempts to explain how these new World Rankings work.

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The World Rankings are maintained for every individual event. In addition, there is an Overall World Ranking which allows us to compare athletes across events. However, only the event-specific rankings matter as far as Olympic qualification is concerned. There are no world rankings for relays.

Event Groups

IAAF maintains World Rankings for 46 different “event groups” – 23 for men and 23 for women. Every event group has a “main event” and possibly some “similar events”. So, for example, in the 100m World Rankings, 100m is the main event whereas non-Olympic events such as 50m, 55m and 60m are classified as similar events. Thus, performances in 50m, 55m, 60m and 100m ALL contribute to the 100m rankings. Similarly, the 400m rankings, for example, are also affected by performances in the 300m and 500m events.

The full list of IAAF “event groups” is as below.

Sr. No.	Main Event	Similar Events	No. of Best Results Contributing to Rankings	Min. No. of Results Required in Main Event	Ranking Period
1	100m	50m, 55m, 60m	5	3	12 months
2	200m	200m indoor	5	3	12 months
3	400m	300m, 300m indoor, 400m indoor, 500m, 500m indoor	5	3	12 months
4	800m	600m, 600m indoor, 800m indoor, 1000m, 1000m indoor	5	3	12 months
5	1500m	1500m indoor, Mile, Mile indoor, 2000m, 2000m indoor	5	3	12 months
6	5000m	3000m, 3000m indoor, 2 Miles, 2 Miles indoor, 5000m indoor	3	2	12 months
7	10,000m	5000m (outdoor), Cross Country (WCH only)	2	1	18 months
8a	Men’s 110mH	50mH, 55mH, 60mH	5	3	12 months
8b	Women’s 100mH	50mH, 55mH, 60mH	5	3	12 months
9	400mH	-	5	3	12 months
10	3000mSC	2000mSC	3	2	12 months
11	High Jump	High Jump indoor	5	3	12 months
12	Pole Vault	Pole Vault indoor	5	3	12 months
13	Long Jump	Long Jump indoor	5	3	12 months
14	Triple Jump	Triple Jump indoor	5	3	12 months
15	Shot Put	Shot Put indoor	5	3	12 months
16	Discus Throw	-	5	3	12 months
17	Hammer Throw	-	5	3	12 months
18	Javelin Throw	-	5	3	12 months
19a	Men’s Decathlon	Heptathlon indoor	2	1	18 months
19b	Women’s Heptathlon	Pentathlon indoor	2	1	18 months
20	Marathon	Half Marathon, 25km, 30km	2	1	18 months
21a	Men’s 20km Race Walk	10km, 15kmwalks	3	2	18 months
21b	Women’s 20km Race Walk	5km, 10km, 15kmwalks	3	2	18 months
22a	Men’s 50m Race Walk	20km, 30km, 35kmwalks	2	1	18 months
22b	Women’s 50km Race Walk*	20km, 30km, 35kmwalks	2	1	18 months
23	Half Marathon and 10km*	5km, 15km, 10 miles, 20km	3	2	18 months

* denotes non-Olympic event

As can be seen from the above table, for every “event group”, an athlete’s best 2 to 5 performances achieved within the ranking period (depending on the event) contribute to the World Rankings. So, for example, in the 400m event, the best 5 results achieved within the previous 12 months contribute to an athlete’s ranking whereas in the marathon, the ranking is composed of only the 2 best performances achieved within the previous 18 months.

In addition, there is also additional requirement that at least a minimum number of results have to be achieved in the “main event”. So, for example, in the 800m rankings, at least 3 results have to come from the 800m outdoor event whereas the remaining 2 results can come from either the main event or any of the other similar events like 600m or 1000m. It should also be noted that some events form part of 2 event groups. So, for example, the 5000m event has its own ranking, but at the same time also contributes to the 10000m ranking as a similar event.

The 2019 Asian Athletics Championships is taking place at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Also, as detailed in Part 1, the result achieved in the last Continental Championships can always be included in the World Rankings irrespective of when they took place.

Scoring Points

Every performance by an athlete leads to a performance score, which is composed of two parts – the result score and the placing score.

Performance Score = Result Score + Placing Score

The result score depends upon the actual result achieved, while the placing score depends on the final placement of the athlete and the level of competition this placement is achieved in.

The best 2-5 performance scores (as detailed in above table) are averaged out to obtain an athlete’s final ranking score. In addition, an athlete gets bonus points added directly to his averaged ranking score if he/she creates a World Record. Breaking a World Record in a main event provides a bonus of 20 points whereas equalling a World Record in a main event provides a 10 point bonus. For similar events, breaking a World Record provides a 10 point bonus and equalling a World Record provides a 5 point bonus.

Result Score

The result score can be read straight away from the IAAF Scoring Tables, available at this 

link. As a reference, in Men’s Javelin, a throw of 85m provides 1172 points, 90m provides 1244 points and 95m provides 1315 points. As would be expected, separate scoring tables exist for indoor and outdoor competition.

However, in certain events, namely the 100m, 200m, 100m/110m Hurdles, Long Jump and Triple Jump, the result score is also affected by wind conditions. Head winds provide additional points while strong tail winds result in a reduction of points.

Additional Points due to Head Wind = 6 * Wind reading (in m/s)

Points deducted due to Tail Wind = 0, for wind between 0 and 2 m/s

                                                       = 6 * Wind reading (in m/s), for wind > 2 m/s

So, for example, a head wind of 2.5 m/s results in an additional 6*2.5=15 pointsadded to the result score obtained from the IAAF scoring tableswhereas a similar tail wind results in a reduction of 15 points. Also, for long jump and triple jump, if the best jump is wind-assisted while another jump gives a better result score due to lower wind, the best result score is considered for World Ranking purposes.

Further, for the combined events, if the wind in one of the events exceeds +4 m/s AND the average wind across all events exceeds +2 m/s, then 24 points are deducted from the result score.

Also, for road running events, a downhill course leads to a reduction in the result score as follows.

Points deducted for downhill course = 0, for netdrop <=1m/km

                                                     = 6 * net drop (in m/km), for net drop > 1 m/km

In addition, for all event groups with a ranking period of 12 months, results older than 9 months see a drop in result score as below. However, area championships are exempt from this rule.Also, events with a ranking period of 18 months are not affected by this rule.

Oldness of Result	Drop in Result Score
9-10 months	20
10-11 months	40
11-12 months	60

 

Competition Categorization

For obtaining the placing scores in the World Rankings, all competitions have been categorised into one of 10 different categories. Some of the important competitions forming each category are as below.

Category	Competitions
OW	Olympics, World Championships
DF	Diamond League Finals
GW	Diamond League Events, Continental Cup, World Indoor Championships, World Half Marathon Championships, World Race Walking Team Championships, World Cross Country Championships
GL	Area Championships (eg. Asian Championships), Gold Label Marathons, Hammer Throw, Race Walking and Combined Events Challenges
A	Major Games (including Asian and Commonwealth), Area Indoor Championships, World Challenge Meetings, World Indoor Tour, Non-diamond disciplines at Diamond League meetings
B	National Championships (of all countries), various other events
C	World U20 Championships, Area U23 Championships, various other events
D	National Indoor Championships (of all countries), Youth Olympic Games, Area U20 Championships, various other events
E	Area U18 Championships, various other events
F	National Level events

As explained in Part 1, an interesting feature to note is that all the area championships- Asian, European, African – are in the same category of GL despite having widely differing standards of competition. Also, these championships are placed higher than even major games like Asian Games and Commonwealth Games which are often considered more prestigious by many participating countries, including India.

Another interesting aspect is that not only do National Championships form part of the rankings, but every nation’s National Championships is placed in the same category (Category B). This means that winning Gold at the near-world-standard USA national championships would provide the same placing score as winning Gold at the Indian National Championships (even though result scores will differ).

Further, only 1 OW and 1 DF event can actually form part of the World Rankings at any point of time. So, for example, results for the 2018 Diamond League Finals (DF category event) will be removed from the World Rankings once the 2019 Diamond League Finals take place, even if both events fall within the ranking period. Also, while various age-group competitions are part of the above categorization, any result achieved with underage apparatus (in hurdles and throwing events) isnot considered for World Rankings.

Placing Score

In the top 4 competition categories – OW, DF, GW and GL – placing scores can be achieved in the final as well as the round before the final (though the placing scores achieved in the round before the final are relatively low). In all other competitions, placing score is achieved only in the final. All other preliminary rounds provide only a result score.

The full placing score tables for track and field events can be obtained here, for the combined events here, for the road running events here, and for the race walking events here. From an Indian perspective, the most relevant of these tables are below.

Track Events other than combined events, 3000mSC, 5000m and 10000m – Final

PLACE	OW	DF	GW	GL	A	B	C	D	E	F
1st	350	240	200	170	140	100	60	40	25	15
2nd	310	210	170	145	120	80	50	35	21	10
3rd	280	185	150	130	110	70	45	30	18	5
4th	250	170	140	120	100	60	40	25	15
5th	230	155	130	110	90	55	35	22	12
6th	215	145	120	100	80	50	30	19	10
7th	200	135	110	90	70	45	27	17
8th	185	125	100	80	60	40	25	15
9th	130	90	70	60
10th	120	80	60	50
11th	110	70	50	45
12th	100	60	45	40
13th	95
14th	90
15th	85
16th	80

 

Track Events other than combined events, 3000mSC, 5000m and 10000m –Round before the Final

	If Final has 0-9 athletes				If Final has 10+ athletes
PLACE	OW	DF	GW	GL	OW	DF	GW	GL
Qual for Final	140	95	80	70	100	65	50	40
9th*	130	90	70	60
10th*	120	80	60	50
11th*	110	70	50	45	95	55	40	35
12th*	100	60	45	40	90	50	35	30
13th*	85				85
14th*	80				80
15th*	75				75
16th*	70				70

*only if not qualified for the Final

This means that, for the purpose of World rankings, an athlete can actually put up more than one scoring performance in each competition. For example, the current World No. 7 in Men’s 100m, Zharnel Hughes (USA), ran 10.01 sec in the SF of the 2018 Berlin European Championships (a GL category event) and then ran 9.95sec in the final. In the SF, his time was 2nd among all runners and he went on to win Gold in the Final. His SF run earned him a total of 1273 points(1203 result score + 70 placing score) whereas his run in the final earned him 1394 points(1224 result score + 170placing score). Both these runs form a part of his best 5 runs in the previous 12 months and thus BOTH contribute independently to his World Ranking score.

This rule inflates the importance of an area Championship even further, as it belongs to the GL category. It means that if a TejaswinShankar or a M Sreeshankar would have travelled to Doha, not only would they have had the opportunity to put one good performance score in their World Ranking scores, but they could have actually put up two – one in qualification and one in the final.

Overall World Rankings

Overall World Rankings have no direct bearing on Olympic qualification but can be used to compare athletes across events. They are constituted by an athlete’s best 5 results in the previous 12 months. The 5 results can come from any event, as long as at least 3 results come from one of the main events of the 46 event groups.

All the various score adjustments such as wind, downhill courses for road running and drop in score for results older than 9 months are in place. However, an athlete’s overall ranking score has to always be equal to or higher than their event ranking score, and in case it is not as per calculations, it is simply made equal to their highest event ranking score.

Rankings of Prominent Indian Athletes

The below table shows World Rankings for some prominent Indian athletes,as of 9 April 2019.

Athlete	Gender	Event	Event Ranking	Overall Ranking
Neeraj CHOPRA	Men	Javelin Throw	4	104
Mohammed Anas YAHIYA	Men	400m	14	355
Arpinder SINGH	Men	Triple Jump	12	405
Dharun AYYASAMY	Men	400mH	24	528
Jinson JOHNSON	Men	800m, 1500m	40, 53	637
Irfan KOLOTHUM THODI	Men	20km Walk	23	689
Tejinderpal Singh TOOR	Men	Shot Put	31	857
M.P. JABIR	Men	400mH	37	876
Arokia RAJIV	Men	200m, 400m	40	876
M SREESHANKAR	Men	Long Jump	38	1069
TejaswinSHANKAR	Men	High Jump	44	1152
Sudha SINGH	Women	3000mSC	18	364
Dutee CHAND	Women	100m, 200m	46	436
Hima DAS	Women	400m	19	498
PalakeezhUNNIKRISHNAN CHITRA	Women	1500m	30	676
LoganathanSURIYA	Women	5000m, 10000m	44, 41	731
Sheoran NIRMLA	Women	400m	32	739
Swapna BARMAN	Women	Heptathlon	14	739
Raghavan ANU	Women	400mH	39	908
Varakil NEENA	Women	Long Jump	27	908
SanjivaniJADHAV	Women	5000m, 10000m	48, 98	1164
Jauna MURMU	Women	400mH	63	1335
Poovamma Raju MACHETTIRA	Women	400m	85	1506
Soumya BABY	Women	20km Walk	33	1546
M. ARPITHA.	Women	400mH	72	1585
SaritaGAYAKWAD	Women	400m, 400mH	194, 78	1739
Jisna MATHEW	Women	400m	103	1770