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Rosemary Chukwuma misses out on official world lead top list, due to World Athletics making a new rule.
The World Athletics (WA) governing body has made a new rule to only include in their rankings or top list (not to be confused with world ranking) marks achieved in their Global calendar or Global Tour events.
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It means marks attained in meets such as the NCAA will no longer be ranked on the world's top list. Also, local meets held in countries and events alike, that are not on the WA calendar will not be ranked.
This new rule affects Rosemary Chukwuma's supposed world-leading 60m time of 7.11s set at Texas Tech Corky Classic last week, which should have been a World Lead (WL) but the new rule excludes her name from the top list ranking. The same goes for Favour Ashe, Alaba Akintola, and every other top performer in the NCAA.
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For example Ismael Kone ran a men's 60m WL of 6.51s in the NCAA, but the 60m WL on the WA website, it is Yannick Wolf's 6.60s that leads.
Here's a representation of the World Athletics men's ranking and that done by Tilastopaja.
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Several questions have been arising with this new rule, as many believe it wasn't necessary and should be changed.
Will elite athletes from their individual countries or training base have to travel to Europe to compete at the registered WA meets when there are limited slots available? Are Federations now responsible for adding meets to the calendar or approving meet directions to add their meets to the calendar?
More answers and explanations need to be given by the WA.
Professional and college athletes see the top list as a motivational means of knowing their position on the Top list among the best in the world, and secondly, for bragging rights of being called the world leader in their event.
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However, one can understand the standpoint of the athletics governing body, especially with college athletes. The lack of drug testing at NCAA meets can invalidate some of the marks recorded, coupled with the fact that some of these athletes never hit their lifetime best mark again after college.
Same for professional or elite athletes that compete at meets not on the Global calendar.
Nevertheless, hopefully, this new change will bring more good than harm to the growth of athletics globally.
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