World of O News
Just in time for the start of WOC in Ukraine the coming Saturday, World of O today launches its new ranking scheme for the worlds orienteering elite. The World of O Ranking is designed to tell who is the best orienteer – both in each discipline and overall – when it really counts! Points for different results are set based on a type of “The WOC winner takes it all”-scheme – giving a lot more credit for a gold medal compared to a silver medal – and very little points when you are out of the top 10.
Niggli and Gueorgiou/Wingstedt on top
The World of O Ranking is designed to tell who is the best orienteer when it really counts! Points for different results are set based on this – giving a lot more credit for a gold medal compared to silver medal – and very little points when you are out of the top 10. As expected, Thierry Gueorgiou and Simone Niggli top the rankings, but Gueorgiou has to split his lead with Emil Wingstedt due to his “failure” at WOC last year. Simone Niggli is unbeatable on the ranking in all disciplines – whereas Gueorgiou, Wingstedt and Jani Lakanen each have the lead in one ranking – middle, spring and long respectively.
Supplement to the IOF World Ranking
The World of O Ranking is seen as a supplement to the IOF World Ranking. The main difference is that only the important races count in the World of O Ranking, and that there is a big difference between good and not that good results. If a runner is 4 times number 4 – always close to the winner – it would give the runner a good position on the IOF World Ranking, but both the history books and the World of O Ranking would be less kind to the runner.
Furthermore, the World of O Ranking ranks the runners in each discipline – giving separate sprint, middle and long distance rankings. Due to the specialization evident in orienteering these days, separate rankings in the different disciplines makes a lot of sense. And lastly – and not least – the World of O Ranking is coupled to pictures, short biographies and video clips of the runners – letting the reader get all they need to know in one place.
In addition to being a supplement to the IOF World Ranking, the World of O Ranking will also be a very good supplement to the World of O Runners database, which was previously only sorted on country and alphabet – making it difficult to pinpoint the most interesting runners from each country.
Point calculations
Details on the calculation scheme for the World of O Ranking are given at the about World of O Ranking page.
Suggestions?
All ranking schemes can be discussed – and there may be some unwanted effects, especially when going down from the top 20 on the list. This is to be expected, as the ranking is made with emphasis on the ones who can get on the podium in the World Champs. However, all comments, suggestions are corrections are as always very welcome. Please post them at the About World of O Ranking page.
The Ranking
Follow the links below to get to the ranking! The ranking also features updated information on many of the runners, pictures from the first two World Cup rounds this year, and about 30 new video interviews taken at World Cup round 2 which have not been published previously. Browse around, and get to know the World Elite better – enjoy!
