{"id":60332,"date":"2020-12-23T15:42:46","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T23:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/?post_type=article&p=60332"},"modified":"2020-12-23T15:42:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T23:42:46","slug":"from-the-editor-what-theres-no-2020-world-rankings-01-21","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/article\/from-the-editor-what-theres-no-2020-world-rankings-01-21\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM THE EDITOR \u2014 What? There\u2019s No 2020 World Rankings?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"IT\u2019S SAD BUT TRUE. As our \u201920 coverage ends with this issue, for the first time since the 1946 season you won\u2019t find the definitive World Rankings which have gone such a long way towards defining who we are.<\/p>\n

A 73-year string of Top 10s, kaput!<\/p>\n

Hardly the kind of thing I was looking for as a Christmas present. One not only for my selfish self, but also for all you loyal readers. Through the years, our surveys have consistently shown that there\u2019s no issue you like better than the Annual Edition, with its recapping of the year\u2019s goings-on.<\/p>\n

With that in mind\u2014and safe in the knowledge that even in a year as gutted as 2020 was there was no shortage of high-end athletes doing amazing things (even without high-tech shoes or pacing lights)\u2014we wanted somehow still to honor those athletes without diminishing the historical value of World Rankings places.<\/p>\n

So, rather than our traditional 10-deeps, in the following pages you\u2019ll discover that we have created \u201cPodiums\u201d for each of the 44 standard categories. Instead of enumerating the top 10 performers, we have instead tabbed the best 3 as Gold, Silver & Bronze winners.<\/p>\n

As explained in our intro to the Podium winners<\/a>, \u201cSure, we could have cobbled together Rankings at something less than 10 deep, but the parameters just wouldn\u2019t have been the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

We also explain, \u201cGiven the immense difference between the circumstances under which these awards were made compared to the traditional World Rankings, we won\u2019t be listing this year\u2019s people in our historical compilations.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may find that last to be a harsh judgment, and it\u2019s not one we made easily, but we think doing it this way will provide a better view of the history of the sport. We didn\u2019t want to get into the business of handing out \u201cparticipation trophies,\u201d although in some places we had no choice but to come close.<\/p>\n

To give you an idea of just how severely the relevant numbers were impacted, the women\u2019s 400H is the poster child for an event where \u201920 bore little resemblance to recent reality.<\/p>\n

Harken back to \u201919 (a year in which U.S. runners were World Ranked 1-2-3-7-10), when the 4 fastest runners of the year were all Americans: Dalilah Muhammad 52.16, Sydney McLaughlin 52.23, Ashley Spencer 53.11, Shamier Little 53.73.<\/p>\n

None of that quartet ran the event this year, one in which there was a single sub-54 runner (53.79 as the world leader) and only 4 cracked 55. This year\u2019s fastest American ran 58.83, good for No. 115 (!) on the yearly world list.<\/p>\n

For a shocking U.S. men\u2019s number, check out the farthest outdoor long jump mark of the year: 25-6\u00bc (7.78). People were jumping that far almost 100 years ago. For another, let us cite the world men\u2019s high jump, where the list leader of 7-7\u00be (2.33) was last that low way back in \u201983.<\/p>\n

The numbers don\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n

How About The Year\u2019s Best Athletes?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

You may also note a change in nomenclature for our choices as the year\u2019s top performers. For the first time since \u201959 (\u201974 on the women\u2019s side) there are no superduperstars tabbed as \u201cAthlete Of The Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead\u2014just as was foreshadowed in the November\/December issue with our tagging of the year\u2019s top high schoolers\u2014you\u2019ll instead find MVPs (Most Valuable Performers). And following the MVP choices, rather than our traditional charting of vote-getters, in order, just a small handful of Honorable Mentions are highlighted.<\/p>\n

As with the Rankings, this change in nomenclature was part of our effort to keep things in historical perspective. There simply weren\u2019t enough people of either sex to fill out a Top 10 that could remotely compare with its predecessors.<\/p>\n

Having said that, I\u2019d be totally remiss if I didn\u2019t clarify that Mondo\u2019s year compares favorably with any vault season that ever went before it. Indeed, you\u2019ll have to search far and wide to find seasons in any event which compare.<\/p>\n

His season alone makes for a perfect present under the tree, but the best part is that in the Olympic year to come we\u2019ll all need bigger trees under which to find more of the great gifts our wonderful sport never fails to bring us.<\/p>\n

Stay safe! Mask up! Get vaccinated when your turn in the queue comes up. (This public service message brought to you by the pre-T&FN<\/em> gh, who a half-century ago was a Bacteriology & Public Health major.) \u25fb\ufe0e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IT\u2019S SAD BUT TRUE. As our \u201920 coverage ends with this issue, for the first time since the 1946 season… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13524,"menu_order":2320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"issuem_issue":[869],"issuem_issue_categories":[52,31],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"class_list":["post-60332","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","issuem_issue-january-2021","issuem_issue_categories-departments","issuem_issue_categories-from-the-editor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFROM THE EDITOR \u2014 What? 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