2022 UK merit rankings – men

Who are the top British male athletes last year based on times, positions in major events and win-loss records against fellow competitors?

While there have been some lingering effects of the pandemic, we had the biggest ever major championships year for British athletes in 2022, writes Peter Matthews.

The decline in the domestic programme continues to be alarming with neglect by our governing body. For instance the Inter-Counties Championships, such a vital part of athletics in Britain for nearly a century, could not be held as the UK CAU cannot afford it and, for now at least, it joins the all-too-long lists of abandoned ventures, although it may again be combined with England Championships.

On a positive side, however, some specific events such as those organised by the British Milers’ Club and specialist sprints meetings have again flourished and the new shoe technology has led to sharp increases in standards across all running events. But unlike in all other major European nations there are simply insufficient opportunities of competition in Britain, particularly affecting those just below international level. Thus, more than ever, British athletes compete overseas rather than at home. One of the effects of this is that the technical events continue to decline alarmingly.

Britain had a decent year at the major championships, winning 7 medals at the Worlds outdoors (1 gold, 1 silver, 7 bronze), but although 5th on the points table, our total was well down on previous recent editions. At the Europeans, Britain again topped the points table and won most medals with 20 (6-6-8). Two bronze medals at the World Indoors was, however, disappointing.

Although only winning two gold medals, England won most medals (2-10-9) and topped the placing table at the Commonwealth Games and could have had a higher figure if a full team had been chosen. Over all the home nations the medal tally was 4-13-12.

Looking at world lists, Britain had 72 men’s and 88 women’s placings in the top 100 for all the standard events in 2022, compared to 61 and 82 in 2021, 82 and 90 in 2019 and 75 and 100 in 2018.

In the merit rankings below the first line is shown the athlete’s name, then their date of birth followed, in brackets, by the number of years ranked (including 2022) and their rankings in 2021, and finally, their best mark prior to 2022. The following lines include their best performances of the year (generally six), followed by significant indoor marks indicated by…