Now that I’ve thrown some parameters out there regarding ranking athletes, let’s get on with it. After all, December has snuck up on us rather suddenly.

I’ve already detailed my Athletes of the Year and Performances of the Year, now it’s time to list my #1’s by event. I will follow that up with some individual event rankings – I’m thinking five deep. Picking the number ones was not as difficult as I thought it might be. In most cases there was a clear number one. Not too uncommon in an Olympic year. Racing/competing being a little more selective during an Olympic campaign than in other seasons.

The women were a little more difficult as they competed much more regularly against each other than the men – as I’ve said before, that’s a quality problem. In each case with these rankings I started with the Olympic champion since the Games were easily the most important meet of the year. Winning gold was not the only criteria however, as this is an award for the entire season. So there needed to be some back up performances worthy of naming one the best of the season. That’s why the Olympic champion is not always my number one.

With that, here is my list of event leaders for the 2012 season. Next up, event rankings. I haven’t forgotten about the best all time races. I will get back to that once rankings are complete.

Men’s 2012 #1’s

100 – Usain Bolt (JAM)
200 – Usain Bolt (JAM)
400 – Kirani James (GRN)
800 – David Rudisha (KEN)
1500 – Silas Kiplagat (KEN)
5000 –  Mo Farah (GBR)
10000 – Mo Farah (GBR)
110 H – Aries Merritt (USA)
400 H – Javier Culson (PUR)
3K st – Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN)

PV – Reynaud Lavillenie (FRA)
HJ- Ivan Uhkov (RUS)
LJ – Greg Rutherford (GBR)
TJ – Christian Taylor (USA)
SP – Tomas Majewski (POL)
Dis – Robert Harting (GER)
Ham – Krisztian Pars (HUN)
Jav – Keshorn Walcott (TRI)
Dec – Ashton Eaton (USA)

Women’s 2012 #1’s

100 – Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce (JAM)
200 – Allyson Felix (USA)
400 – Sanya Richards Ross (USA)
800 – Mariya Savinova (RUS)
1500 – Maryam Jamal (BRN)
5000 – Meseret Defar (ETH)
10000 – Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH)
100H – Sally Pearson (AUS)
400H – Lashinda Demus (USA)
3K st – Yulia Zaripova (RUS)

PV – Jenn Suhr (USA)
HJ – Anna Chicherova (RUS)
LJ – Brittney Reese (USA)
TJ – Olga Rypakova (KAZ)
SP – Valerie Adams (NZL)
Dis – Sandra Perkovic (CRO)
Ham – Betty Heidler (GER)
Jav – Barbora Spotakova (CZE)
Hep – Jessica Ennis (GBR)

Regarding the rubric I presented for assessing how I personally rank athletes, one reader brought up a very good point / issue. That being, how do we determine outstanding performance for athletes where the "bar" was previously set by an enhanced, or thought to have been enhanced athlete? A question that in some ways goes to the very heart of the sport, because the issue of drug use permeated the news for much of the 2000's Read More...

As I said previously it's that time of year - awards / ranking season. And as tends to happen, the first set of awards on the table have already stoked the fires of debate - and that's a good thing. Can never have enough conversation about track and field! So while we're talking, I thought it might be a good time to define what we're talking about Read More...

I will continue to work on the series of best ever races (next will be the women's 800) but we are closing in on the end of the year and soon the start of the 2013 indoor season. And that means end of the year lists and rankings, as well as some early indoor activity. So as things begin to heat up it's back to the excitement of the sport, but I will continue to use the best ever series tho fill in the gaps, as I must admit I am enjoying the research as consuming as it is Read More...

Now we get into some interesting events with the middle distances, and for me one of the most exciting race on the track - the 800 meters. This event has seen some HUGE talent over the decades, and most are represented here. The largest noticeable absence being Sebastian Coe - the man who brought this event into both the 1:42, and 1:41 eras Read More...

This one was a bit harder than the others. In large part because the all time list is heavily populated by Eastern Bloc athletes. At the end of the day however, the results sorted themselves out because many of the too times occurred in races that were outside of major championships with results that were very top heavy with really poor results at the bottom Read More...

Here we go with the 400's. Definitely a bit tougher task, because as the distance increases, so do the odds that things may not be so close at the finish - making the task of evaluating much more difficult. That said, there were races that shone through - because competitors find a way to make things close no matter the distance Read More...

The men's event was tough, the women were even tougher. The biggest problem being depth, as most races over the years have suffers from lack of great depth. Just as in the 100, the great female sprint crews of the 90s have a presence on this list, but there is a nice sprinkling of some of the greatest female sprinters of all time with Evelyn Ashford, Valerie Brisco, and the New Millennium group of Felix, Campbell Brown, Jeter, and Fraser Pryce, among others are also heard from Read More...

Now that the 100 is out of the way it's forward to the deuce - and frankly the 100 was easier! Here's the deal. The issue is that this is not about individual performances, it's supposed to be about the race - the entire race. That said, there have been many great performances where the overall race didn't match up Read More...

This was a very interesting exercise. The men's list was relatively easy to put together, as there have been some very memorable races for the men. As I started putting this list together however, I found that getting the top women together AND performing as a group at a high level has not been as frequent as one would have thought Read More...