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.
From June 23-30, one U.S. athlete in the top 100 of their respective event had the biggest absolute improvements to their World Ranking, improving by 44 spots from 95th to 51st. Tompkins High School senior and University of Southern California commit Blake Hamilton ran 19.86 (+4.6 m/s) in the 200m at the UIL Texas State Championships on May 16, yet this performance had not been applied to his ranking score until this most recent update. While not wind-legal, Hamilton does have an official personal best of 20.02 (+0.8 m/s) that he ran at the USATF U20 Championships on June 19. These two races combined with his prelim run at the USATF U20 Championships, first place at Under Armour Nationals, and first place at the Victor Lopez Classic are good enough to rank Hamilton 51st in the world entirely from “F” category competitions. Hamilton’s 20.02 ties him for the 23rd fastest mark in the world this year, meaning that with more competitions at higher categories, the teenager will continue to ascend. Hamilton’s season is not finished yet, as he has qualified for the World Athletics U20 Championships in the 200m – a “C” category competition. This will give him a great opportunity to collect valuable placing points to accompany his already elite results scores. 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), Hamilton’s climb from 95th to 51st is a 46% improvement and is good enough for the biggest percent increase as well. 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.