World Men
In a year without a world track championship or an Olympic games, other races served as showcases for the world’s best runners. No where is this more evident than in the resume of the year’s top runner: Wilson Kiprop claimed top honors by winning three half marathons (one of them the IAAF World Championships) and two African track championships. Not to denigrate his stellar year, but one of the reasons for his #1 ranking is the absence of Keninisa Bekele, or any other runner who produced the Ethiopian’s familiar string of firsts in the most competitive races of the year, primarily the Diamond League track series.
Instead, Bernard Lagat, Imane Merga and Tariku Bekele ended in a virtual dead heat as they traded victories throughout the year. Lagat was given the edge, primarily due to his 5,000m/10,000m double at the September 4 and 5 IAAF/VTB Continental Cup in Croatia, where he beat Merga, Kipsiro and Soi in the 10,000m and Bekele and Kipsiro in the 5,000m. Merga, however, bested both Lagat (third) and Bekele (second) earlier in the year at the Bislett 5,000m, and won or placed in several more competitive races than Lagat. For his part, Bekele beat Merga in Rome and Eugene, and Lagat in Rieta. Interestingly, the most competitive race of the year, the 5,000m at the July 10 Aviva British Grand Prix, was won by Vincent Kiprop, who placed 11th on our list for having not done much else at that level, with Kipchoge second, which, along with a victory (over Merga) at the Doha Diamond league, earned him fifth on our rankings.
Is this the equivalent of league parity, or just a year when no one peaked at the same time?
The women’s rankings ended up in a mathematical tie between last year’s #2, Vivian Cheruiyot, and Tirunesh Dibaba, who was out injured in 2009. Cheruiyot had a stellar year, winning five of the year’s six most competitive races. Indeed, out of 14 starts, Cheruiyot won all but four of them, placing second in each of her losses. One of those losses was to Meseret Defar at the world indoor championships, the other three to Dibaba, who owned the rivalry, winning every head-to-head. Dibaba, however, didn’t race as often nor had as competitive a schedule as Cheruiyot, although she, too, won every outing except the world cross country championships, where she placed fourth. Who is the better runner? We decided to agree with the formulas and call it a tie.
Meseret Defar, last year’s runner of the year, raced more sparingly and lost several key races, notably the African Championships 10,000m and the Lausanne Athletissima 3,000m (the most competitive race of the year), both times to Cheruiyot. Last year’s #3, Linet Masai, #4 Meselech Melkamu and #5 Lineth Chepkurui remained on the top-10 list, each a bit further down this year.
While primarily track runners remain on top, the women’s list reveals the diversity of the venues in which world-class women compete, with a marathoner (Mary Keitany), a cross country specialist (Emily Muge) and a road racer (Lineth Chepkurui) in the top 10. Indeed, the World’s Best 10K earned the #4 spot on the list of most competitive races of the year, in large part to their aggressive recruiting of runners from all disciplines to their off-season event.
As in the men’s list, the parity of runners at the top is refreshing, and should make for an exciting year to watch in 2011.
Our Runners of the Year rankings take into account all certified races 3,000m or longer, track or roads, giving the greatest weight to winning or placing in the most competitive races. The formula then factors in each runner's winning percentage in head-to-head matchups with other top-ranked runners, and, finally, considers the runner's average weekly competitive level, calculated as point exchanges based on who beat whom in that week's races. Times aren't considered in this formula, so a fast time run solo wins few points. While marathoners are included in this ranking, few make the top echelons due to their limited schedules.
| Top 10 World Men 1 Wilson Kiprop (KEN) 2 Bernard Lagat (USA) 3 Imane Merga (ETH) 4 Tariku Bekele (ETH) 5 Moses Kipsiro (UGA) 6 Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 7 Zerisenay Tadese (ERI) 8 Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) 9 Edwin Soi (KEN) 10 Paul Tanui (KEN) |
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| Top 10 World Women 1 Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) 1 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 3 Meseret Defar (ETH) 4 Linet Masai (KEN) 5 Mary Keitany (KEN) 6 Sentayehu Ejigu (ETH) 7 Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR) 8 Emily Muge (KEN) 9 Meselech Melkamu (ETH) 10 Lineth Chepkurui (KEN) |
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| Top 10 U.S. Men 1 Bernard Lagat (USA) 2 Chris Solinsky (USA) 3 Galen Rupp (USA) 4 Mohamed Trafeh (USA) 5 Ryan Hall (USA) 6 Edward Moran (USA) 7 Tim Nelson (USA) 8 Brent Vaughn (USA) 9 Antonio Vega (USA) 10 Christopher Derrick (USA) |
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| Top 10 U.S. Women 1 Shalane Flanagan (USA) 2 Molly Huddle (USA) 3 Amy Begley (USA) 4 Shannon Rowbury (USA) 5 Lisa Koll (USA) 6 Magdalena Lewy (USA) 7 Kathryn McGregor (USA) 8 Lauren Fleshman (USA) 9 Renee Baillie (USA) 10 Desiree Davila (USA) |
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| 2010 Most Competitive Fields — Women | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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