by Lia Skoufos, MS
This article is a part of a USATF Campus exclusive series to help understand the World Athletics Rankings. For track fans and elite athletes alike, this series aims to provide clarity, analysis, and education on all things World Rankings, and what they mean for Team USATF. For more information on how the World Rankings system works, see this article.
From March 3-10, 2026, one U.S. athlete in the top 100 had the biggest absolute improvement to their World Ranking this week, improving their position by seven spots. The University of South Carolina’s Josiah Wrice did not compete over the weekend, but for some unknown reason, the men’s 400m final at the SEC Indoor Championships did not apply to his ranking score until the most recent update. Either way, the true sophomore’s indoor personal best at SEC’s moved him from 75th to 68th in the men’s 400m world rankings. 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 showed the biggest improvement. Jessica Ramsey improved by 12.5% in the women’s shot put world rankings, moving from 16th to 14th despite also not competing in the past week. In most events, a mark can only apply to an athlete’s ranking score if it occurred in the past 12 months. The biennial European Athletics Indoor Championships took place from March 6-9 in 2025, meaning that any performance from this competition no longer counts towards any athlete’s ranking score. Ramsey was the biggest beneficiary of this meet aging out and will not be at risk of any of her performance scores expiring until May 30, 2026, at the earliest. You can use my World Athletics Rankings Dashboard & Calculator for a color-coded visual to understand when athletes are at risk of marks falling off their ranking score. More details on rankings, results, and scenarios can be found on the World Athletics website. You can also experiment with my 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.