Emmanouil Karalis moved up two spots in the World Athletics world rankings and is now fifth on the list announced following the effective conclusion of the competitive season for track and field events.
“Manolo” climbed to No. 5 from No. 7 two weeks ago, with an average of 1,475 points based on his five best results over the past year. What makes the Greek champion’s achievement so significant is that he earned his points with four second-place finishes and just one first-place finish—in this year’s Diamond League final. Nevertheless, he ranked higher than athletes with victories at major events and world records.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The five results that earn him the most points and count toward his ranking are 6.15 at the Ultimate Championship (1,538), the 6.00 in his only race last year, the World Championships in Tokyo (1,497), the 6.12 in Brussels (1,470), 6.20 in Zurich (1,442), and 6.16 in Lausanne (1,431).
The only athletes to have surpassed Karalis are his great rival in the pole vault, Mondo Duplantis (1,561), Brazilian hurdler Alison dos Santos with 1,526, American sprinter Kenneth Benarek with the advantage of two wins at the Ultimate Championship (1,494), and 400-meter runner Busang Kolen Kebinatsipi from Botswana with 1,483.
Miltos Tentoglou is also ranked very high, in 22nd place, with 1,402 points, seven spots higher than in the previous 15-day period. His ranking would have been even better had he achieved a higher finish at last year’s World Championships, where he placed 11th. The five competitions counted toward his ranking are his victories at the Ultimate Championship (1,474) with a jump of 8.35, in Monaco with 8.61 (1,441), in Xiamen and Zurich with the same performance, 8.46, which earned him 1,378 and 1,376 points, respectively, and his second-place finish in the Diamond League final in Brussels with 8.40 (1,375).
The top five in the women’s competition are made up of Americans Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (1,514) and Masai Russell (1,458), Marilaydi Paulino from the Dominican Republic (1.451), Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (1,441), and Audrey Véro of Switzerland with 1,434. In other words, only Jefferson-Wooden has a higher average score than Karalis.
*photo source: KYPE
