World Mountain Running Ranking Update
We catch up with Ranking Secretary Francesco Puppi for an update on the ranking in its second year.
Launched in April last year with the aim of increasing the visibility of both races and athletes, the World Mountain Running Ranking provides a calendar of races, a database of results, and a simple, transparent scoring system which allows anyone with an interest in mountain running to keep track of who the in-form athletes are within the sport.
The rolling 365 day points system can assist in the decision making of team managers and race directors, allow athletes to demonstrate their form to federations and sponsors, and gives fans and media a clear insight into who the heavy-hitters are in the build up to important races.
The ranking is already in use on the Valsir World Cup circuit as a means of allocating travel expenses to invited athletes.
Into its second year, the ranking continues to grow. The addition of new races and new results bring in new athletes, all with the aim of creating a clearer picture of the state of play within mountain running globally.
Francesco Puppi, the Ranking Secretary, gave us his take on the current shape of the standings.
After two years of events, championships and series that were deeply affected by the global pandemic, the situation has normalized and the WMRA ranking is now reflecting this more stable situation. Both the women's and men's rankings are dominated by the current World Cup best runners, with Kenya placing 3 athletes in the top 3. As a reminder, the current world ranking is a rolling ranking, meaning that it's calculated taking into account the results that an athlete had in the 365 days prior to today's date.
The men's situation is particularly interesting and keeps changing week after week. Petro Mamu (ERI)is the current ranking leader thanks to his solid and consistent performances week after week, with Henri Aymonod (ITA, last year's world cup winner) right behind, still holding a great number of points thanks to his performances from last year. Unfortunately he's not been racing much this year due to some physical problems, but he recently took 2nd at Skaala Uphill and it looks like he could finish his 2022 season strong, with his eyes on the World Championship in November.
Patrick Kipngeno (KEN), the men's current World Cup leader, who only took up mountain running at an international level this year, has 4 World Cup wins plus a 3rd place in his debut at Sierre-Zinal, with a sub 2h30' finish. He also won Thyon Dixence, setting a 32 year old CR, and he's projected to finish this year as the ranking leader if he keeps this super impressive pace. He's surely been the number one revelation of this season and he is an example of the still to be discovered potential that African runners have in the sport.
Joyce Njeru (KEN) has over 100 points of advantage on Andrea Mayr (AUT), while Lucy Murigi (KEN) keeps the third place in the women's ranking, which looks much more defined than the men's current ranking.
The European Championship was also a 3 day event which shifted by a great deal the equilibrium of the ranking, allowing Cesare Maestri, ITA (who placed 1st in the uphill only and 2nd in the up and down race) and Maude Mathys, SUI (winner of both uphill only and up and down races) and Dominik Rolli (SUI) to scale many positions inside the top 10.
A couple of final thoughts: thanks to the addition of several US mountain running races, including the whole Cirque Series calendar, many american runners have had a chance to gain positions in the ranking: currently in the top 10 are Allie McLaughlin and Grayson Murphy among the women, and Joe Gray and Andy Wacker among the men.
A final call to any federation reading this report: we encourage you to get in touch and let us know the dates and the details of your national mountain running championship, every year. We do our best to check the calendars and add these events from most countries, but it would be extremely helpful if you could help us in this process.
Photos by Marco Gulberti.