Top 10 Male Athletes 2024: Kelvin Kiptum, Tebogo Top List

Kelvin Kiptum remains Kenya's top male athlete according to the latest World Athletics rankings
The marathon world record holder died in February, less than four months after his record-breaking victory in Chicago.
TUKO.co.ke explains how Kiptum is still included among the famous people in the world and how the rankings work

Kelvin Kiptum is still the champion among the best athletes of 2024 despite passing away in the middle of February.

Kelvin Kiptum celebrates after breaking the men's marathon world record on October 8, 2023. Photo by Michael Reaves.
Source: Getty Images

Kenya and the world in general lost the rising star after a fatal road accident ended his life on the road Eldoret Kaptagat.

Kiptum passed away, having run only three marathons in his career. He broke the world record in style in the Chicago marathon last October. Six months earlier, he had won the London marathon, breaking the record of Eliud Kipchoge.

Armand Duplantis' greatest achievement 2024

Two-time Olympic sprint champion Armand Duplantis tops the list after another great season that saw him break his own world record three times. The Swede has a huge lead over Jakob Ingebrigsten, who beats Ryan Crouser and new Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo.

How World Athletics Standards Work

The governing body for world athletics competitions, World Athletics, updates its rankings every Wednesday after taking into account various competitions around the world. In order for an athlete to earn points, the competition must be confirmed in the World Athletics.

Athletes are ranked according to their 'performance score' or 'scoring.' As stated on the World Athletics page, the first looks at the athlete's results in the finals (heats and preliminary rounds are not classified) of the competition.

Results and Grading

The placing score takes into account the athlete's final position during the competition and the location of the competition.

There are 10 different types, and the highest is OW, which stands for Olympics and World Champions. The Diamond League final follows, signaled by DF. GW is the third highest category, which includes other Diamond League events, Indoor and Cross-Country championships.

World Athletics takes all of this into account when calculating an athlete's score. The body looks at the last 12 months or 18 months for combined events with a distance exceeding 10,000m. This explains why Kiptum's London marathon can still be considered.

An athlete who breaks or equals the world record gets more points.