The update to the decathlon and heptathlon world rankings on 3 October 2023 captured the results from the Asian Games and took into account the expiry of scores from the 2022 Australian national championships.
Scores can only be included for rankings purposes if they occur within the previous 18-month period (other than certain circumstances for area championships).
You can find an explanation of the rankings system here.
PLACING POINTS
These are the placing points for the competitions featured in this week’s update.
WHO ENTERED THE RANKINGS
- Qihao Sun: outside top 100 to 51st
- Tejaswin Shankar: outside top 100 to 76th
- Ninali Zheng: unranked to 55th
- Nandini Agasara: unranked to 93rd
WHO MOVED UP
n/a
WHO MOVED DOWN
- Cedric Dubler: 22nd to 32nd
- Alec Diamond: 54th to 70th
WHO DROPPED OUT THE RANKINGS
Suttisak Singkhon, Niels Pittomvils, Carmen Ramos and Tamara De Souza moved outside the top 100 due to athletes entering the rankings above them.
DECATHLON
The Asian Games took place in Hangzhou this week. The medallists were Qihao Sun of China, Tejaswin Shankar of India (in a national record) and Yuma Maruyama of Japan. Maruyama’s score didn’t impact upon his current ranking (38th thanks to his wins at the indoor and outdoor Asian Champs) but Sun and Shankar enjoyed significant boosts. Both had featured in the decathlon rankings previously. Sun was previously ranked 99th in mid-September and Shankar 100th in mid-July. Their scores of 7816 and 7666 respectively, supplemented by placing points, lift them well into the top 100.
As the tail end of the 18-month eligibility period for rankings moves through 2022, the results from the Australian championships in early April 2022 expired. That caused Cedric Dubler to drop 10 places from 22nd to 32nd, and Alec Diamond to drop from 54th to 70th. Dubler’s score of 8393 was replaced by his 8030 from the Commonwealth Games. Diamond’s score of 8002 was replaced by his 7812 from 3rd place at the FISU University Games in Chengdu.
Diamond’s most valuable score for ranking purposes remains his 7582 from the 2022 Oceania Champs, despite it being 300 points less than his Chengdu score. This again demonstrates the value of non-European area championships points, which gives athletes the same points as Götzis and Talence.
Together with Ash Moloney dropping out of the decathlon rankings altogether a few weeks ago, these changes mean Dan Golubovic is now Australia’s top ranked decathlete.
HEPTATHLON
The Asian Games heptathlon was won by China’s Ninali Zheng. It was her second competition of the season and brought her back into the heptathlon rankings. After winning in Arona and placing 10th in the Olympics in 2021 , Zheng had dropped out of the rankings in December 2022 as her 2021 scores expired. She re-enters at 55th place, thanks to her score of 6149 for gold. Ekaterina Voronina’s ranking position was unaffected by her silver medal. However, Nandini Agasara of India entered from an unranked position into 93rd place.
You can see the changes to rankings on 26 September here, and 19 September here.