0
0
Photo: Copyright
T&T’s Jereem “The Dream” Richards and Michelle-Lee Ahye are listed among the top ten sprinters in the world on the IAAF’s new official rankings system.
Richards, 25, is currently ranked number four in the men’s 200 metres dropping from the third spot, the highest ever position on the rankings, for two weeks. Ahye is eighth on the women’s 100m list and has held the spot for the past 10 weeks.
It was reported that the new rankings system which was launched last month, will eventually change the way athletes qualify for major championships. The Athletics’ global governing body says the rankings have been designed “to provide a more effective way of identifying the top athletes in each discipline by rewarding consistency and competition among the world’s best”.
Ahead of Richards on the list are American Noah Lyles who is currently the world’s top-ranked men’s 200m sprinter with Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev in second place and Canadian Aaron Brown, third.
T&T’s Kyle Greaux, 30, is just outside the top 10 in 13th place.
Photo: Copyright
Ahye, 26, has had success thus far in the indoor season, having two wins in the women’s 60m at the FasTrak Invitational in Houston, Texas, USA on January 19 with 7.27 seconds and at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston with 7.21. Early last month, she had a second-place finish with 7.15 at New York Road Runners (NYRR) Millrose Games.
Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou is in the number one position among the women sprinters. The 30-year-old ran four of the 10 fastest times in the world last year. In Qatar, she ran her 100m personal best, clocking 10.84 at the Doha Diamond League (May 4), then ran 10.88 in Eugene (May 26) and 10.89 in Monaco (July 20) before clocking another sub-11 with a 10.90 at the Lausanne leg of the IAAF Diamond League series.
Filling the other places ahead of Ahye are Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Jamaican Elaine Thompson, American Jenna Prandini, Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands and Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji, respectively.
There is also an ‘overall’ category spanning all events, and top of the lot is USA’s Noah Lyles and Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech. Richards is 59th overall on the men’s list while Ahye is 113th among the world’s women athletes. Greaux is 244th overall among the men’s athletes.
By Rachael Thompson-King / http://www.guardian.co.tt
