Huskies' Hana Moll now the world's number one pole vaulter...

MONACO--University of Washington rising senior Hana Moll's (Paul Merca photo) second place finish at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest, along with her three straight wins in the final three meets of the Wanda Diamond League season have propelled her to the number one world ranking in the latest weekly rankings distributed by World Athletics.

Moll, the graduate of Olympia's Capital HS, entered last week's World Ultimate Championships as the sixth best vaulter in the world.

The basic formula for the rankings is based on the results scores that are done in meets listed on the World Athletics calendar, plus a placing score based on the tier of competitions, of which World Athletics championships and the Olympics are the highest possible tier, followed by the Diamond League finals, then the regular season Diamond League meets, continental and regional championships, national championships, and so on.

Moll's best scoring mark came at the Ultimate Championships last week, where she cleared 16-0.75 (4.90m), which was worth 1239 points, plus 230 points for finishing second.

When Hana won the Diamond League final in a personal best 16-1.25 (4.91m), she scored her highest results score of 1242 points, but only received 170 points for winning the meet.

Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts, who was ranked 84th in the world entering last week's Ultimate Championships, rocketed up to number 11 after winning the men's 1500 in Budapest.

Kerr, who hadn't raced much in 2026, won the 1500 in 3:29.35 for a results score of 1254 and a first place score of 260 points for 1514 total points. 

With five meets the criteria for a world ranking, his winning mark at the Ultimate Championships replaced his fifth best score, which was his last place finish at the Tokyo world championships.

Brandon Miller of the Brooks Beasts moved up two spots from number 6 to number 4 in the men's 800 after his fourth place finish in 1:42.54, worth 1250 points, plus a placing score of 190 points.

Both Washington alum Gianna Woodruff and former Pullman resident Katie Moon maintained their world rankings from last week.

Woodruff finished seventh in the 400 hurdles final, running 53.89 for 1208 points, and picked up 150 placing points. She kept her number five world ranking.

Despite a sixth place finish at the Ultimate Championships where she cleared 15-5 (4.70m), she picked up 1177 results points and 160 placing points to stay at number four.

The world rankings are posted weekly by World Athletics every Wednesday.

An explanation of how the world rankings are calculated is available here.

The point tables for the various events are located here (see scoring tables, then click to download).

The placing tables for the various competition tiers are available here.

The women's pole vault world rankings are available here (click on Hana and Katie's names to get a detailed look at their five best marks; from there, exit, then scroll Men > 1500 meters, then click Josh's name to see his five best marks).

You can see their previous week's world rankings here.

WORLD ATHLETICS AWARDS THE 2029 AND 2031 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TO NAIROBI AND MUNICH...

Nairobi and Munich were selected to host the 2029 and 2031 World Athletics Championships, respectively, following one of the strongest bidding processes in the history of the sport’s flagship event.

“We were fortunate to have four outstanding bids for 2029 and 2031, and this was not an easy decision for the Council,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

Nairobi’s selection represents a landmark moment for athletics, bringing its biggest global event to Africa for the first time.

Nairobi staged the World U18 Championships in 2017 and the World U20 Championships in 2021. In 2007, Mombasa put on the World Cross Country Championships.

Munich’s successful bid will bring the World Athletics Championships back to Germany for the first time since Berlin staged the event in 2009.

Germany has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to stage major athletics events to a high standard and attract large and enthusiastic crowds. Berlin hosted the European Championships in 2018, while Munich’s Olympic Stadium was the center piece of the 2022 multi-sport European Championships.

World Athletics also received bids for the next two championship meets from London and Rome.

The World Athletics Championships will next take place in Beijing on 10-19 September 2027. Both Nairobi 2029 and Munich 2031 will also take place in September.

The World Athletics release is available here.

NOTE: World Athletics, Brooks Running and the sports information office of Seattle Pacific  contributed to this report.

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