by Lia Skoufos, MS
This article is part of a USATF Campus exclusive series to help understand the World Athletics Rankings. For track enthusiasts and elite athletes alike, this series aims to provide clarity, analysis, and education on all things World Rankings and how they impact Team USATF. For more information on how the World Rankings system works, see this article.
After a busy week of Diamond League and USATF Tour competition, one U.S. athlete in the top 100 of their respective event had the biggest absolute improvement to their World Ranking – improving by 32 spots from 71st to 39th. 2026 World Relays-winning 4x100m Relay anchor Pjai Austin ran his fastest, albeit wind-aided, 100m in three years at the USATF Lone Star Grand Prix on Saturday in College Station, TX. His 9.92 (+3.8 m/s) placed him fourth in a race where eight athletes went sub-10 seconds. But importantly for his rank, this race replaces his heats run at the Simbine Classic, where he ran 10.07 and received no placing points. Since Austin replaced his fifth-best performance score of 1182 with this performance worth 1282, his ranking score increased by 20 points and thus his world ranking improved 32 positions. When assessing improvement based on percentage increase in ranking (e.g. 2nd to 1st is a 50% improvement as is moving from 30th to 15th), seven U.S. athletes improved by 50% or more but the top mover climbed from 6th to 2nd for a 67% improvement. Rachel Richeson threw a personal best for the second time this season, most recently with a mark of 79.33m in the hammer throw at the USATF Lone Star Grand Prix to finish three centimeters behind the reigning World and Olympic Champion Camryn Rogers. Richeson’s consistency sees her top five marks for her ranking score averaging 78.27m, a distance that only seven athletes (including Richeson) have ever thrown in their career. The clash of titans will continue at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix, where on June 13 the world ranked #1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 10 athletes will rematch at South Bay Athletic Club’s Colich Throws Facility at 12:00 p.m. PDT. More details on rankings, results, and scenarios can be found on the World Athletics website. You can also experiment with my World Athletics Rankings Dashboard & Calculator and World Rankings Over Time Dashboard, hosted exclusively on USATF Campus.
Lia Skoufos is a Sports Scientist at USATF specializing in throwing events. She holds a BS in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois Chicago and MS in Sport and Exercise Analytics from Marquette University and supports a range of analytics-based projects at USATF. In addition to her work with the throws group, she focuses on creating data-driven visuals and bridging the gap between technical analytics and practical applications by translating complex information into clear, actionable insights for coaches, athletes, and all USATF Campus members.