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 July 7-14, one U.S. athlete in the top 100 of their respective event had the biggest absolute improvement to their World Ranking, improving by 45 spots. Patrick “PJ” Ize-Iyamu recently graduated from the University of Oregon as a school record holder in the 4x100m Relay and improved his World Ranking from 94th to 49th in the 100m in his first post-collegiate meet. While his wind-legal personal best remains 10.06, Ize-Iyamu notched his second and third wind-aided sub-10s performances at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational. In the prelims, he ran 9.95 (+4.2) and followed it up with a 9.88 (+2.6) for 2nd place at his first individual “B” category competition. Both the prelims and final now count towards Ize-Iyamu’s ranking score, and the latter of the two also accounts for the most placing points he has ever earned in a competition. PJ is also declared for the 2026 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, another “B” category competition in which placing points associated with a strong showing in the final would continue to improve his rank. 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), one U.S. athlete climbed from 10th to 4th for a 60% improvement. Gabby Thomas, after a somewhat sparse 2025 competition-wise, had found herself ranked 10th in the world in the 200m for most of this year. Thanks to her busy week of competitions and return to top form, the reigning Olympic champion has ascended to a #4 ranking. Thomas took third place at the Meeting International d’Athlétisme Herculis EBS in Monaco on July 10th running 21.84 (+0.9) and then followed it up with a 21.83 (0.0) at the Gyulai István Memorial four days later. These marks replace her prelims and finals performances at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, which provided 0 and 49 placing points respectively. In addition to more placing points, Thomas ran faster in her two most recent competitions than at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships last year, causing a significant swing and rise. While not entered in next week’s Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, Thomas has an automatic qualification to the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships and will undoubtedly strive to continue improving. 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.