JUNE 2023
6 June: Although the rules have been changed so that the winners of area championships such as NACAC cannot claim a place in the World Championships if someone from that area is already qualified (as was the case for the US in 2022), it continues to be arguably the most important source of rankings points for athletes in that continent. NACAC, as a senior outdoor championships, is in the GL category, with the same placing points as Goetzis or Talence.
Chari Hawkins’ NACAC victory in Grenada escalated her from 19th to 13th, which would prove to be a very canny move, since that would force Annie Kunz to deliver a big score at US trials a few weeks later (over and above her 6330 in Goetzis) if she wanted to enter the rankings ahead of her. Shaina Burns’ silver medal took her from 59th to 37th, and Alysbeth Felix Boyer of Puerto Rico’s third place from 84th to 63rd.
Vilem Strasky’s 7826 at Czech nationals took him from 87th to 65th, while Denim Rogers’ victory in Dallas brough him back into the top 100 again, to 89.
13 June: Finally, the NCAAs and Leo Neigebauer’s stunning 8836, although it actually only took him from 16th to 13th, which seems poor reward for such a huge score. Steinforth moved from 40th to 35th, Austin West 43rd to 38th, Yariel Soto 60th to 57th, Jack Turner 83rd to 71st.
Among the women, Pippi Lotta Enok’s win took her from 56th to 37th, Juskeviciute 38th to 33rd, Blazevica 43rd to 38th, Joniar Thomas a great re-entry to the top 100 at 58th, Jenelle Rogers new at 72nd, Dreimane to 89th.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, Nicole Ostertag won the competition and moved from 49th to 37th.
At the Japanese championships, Yuki Yamasaki moved from 77th to 61st, Karin Odama new at 88th, and Yuma Maruyama 52nd to 46th.
20 June: Ratingen brought some changes to the top 24 of the rankings table; Carolin Schafer moved from 14th into the top 10 at 10th, Kate O’Connor 22nd to 21st, Shaina Burns 40th to 39th, Boll an impressive 85th to 57th.
Verena Mayr – who had indicated earlier in the season that the rankings approach to qualification would likely mean she could not qualify for Budapest – entered the rankings at 46th, while Esther Turpin returned in at 49th.
The most significant development was the return of Jorge Urena, whose previous outdoor mark had expired while he was injured and thus excluded him from the rankings. He arrived back in in 18th position. Rik Taam moved from 31st to 21st, Tim Nowak 29th to 28th, Felix Wolter 39th to 34 thand Adam Sebastian Helcelet returned to the rankings in 79th place.
Meanwhile, at various national championships, Rita Nemes made her characteristic late charge to enter the rankings at 22nd, Edyta Bielska improved from 46th to 40th, Celine Albisser continued to improve from 47th to 44th, Mathilde Rey’s victory in Switzerland catapulted her from 87th to 47th, Julia Slocka moved from 77th to 44th, Sandra Rothlin from 92nd to 67th, and in India Swapna Barman from 94th to 63rd (originally ranked in the 80s, but corrected the following week by WA). Pawel Wiesiolek also improved, from 94th to 70th.
In Arona, Andreu Boix’s 7961 brought him back into the rankings at 91st.
Meanwhile, one of the most important developments – and what came close to being the greatest injustices of the season – started to unfold. Dan Golubovic’s score of 8336 from the 2021 Oceania champs expired, replaced by his 8301 from Goetzis this year. The cumulative effect of the placing points difference was that he dropped from 18th to 22nd, into the danger zone with several competitions and Area championships – and their designated places – to come. There was a real risk that an 8300 performance this year would not be enough for a place at Worlds.
