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Sky ranking – top 100 men and 50 women announced

 Japan's Dai Matsumoto racing at Ultraks 46K, 2013. © Jordi Saragossa


The top 100 men and 50 women in the ISF Sky ranking announced today offer more food for thought after the Ultra ranking announced earlier. Twenty-one races in five continents were selected in the Sky category.  The top 100 men count 487 athletes from 37 nations while the top 50 women are calculated out of 216 athletes from 29 nations.


The overall ranking has been devised for the three skyrunning disciplines based on 54 races in 2013 (24 Ultra, 21 Sky and 10 Vertical). One of the principal aims was to take into account the quality of the field and the time relative to the winner, along with a proprietary ISF algorithm and other factors.


Some considerations on the ranking per country for the two distances:

In the Ultra distance France, Spain and USA count four, three and three athletes respectively in the top ten overall. If we take the mean value of the points of the top three ranked athletes per nation, the men’s results show Spain leading (247,649), followed by USA (245,363) and France (236,344).


The women’s Ultra ranking presents a more varied picture however, with, apart from the nations mentioned above, Sweden, Italy and New Zealand featuring. Again, taking the mean value of the top three per nation, Spain leads with (194,477), followed by France (192,846) and USA (190,065).

The Sky discipline with respect to the Ultra counts more nations in the top ten men’s and women’s rankings, with athletes from five nations.  Again, Spain’s prowess dominates with four men and four women in the top ten overall.  In both cases Italy, the cradle of skyrunning, boasts two men and three women in the top ten. In the men’s field, using the above mean value, Spain again leads the ranking with (262,317) followed by Italy (235,146).


The women’s Sky ranking is led by Spain (251,559) followed by Italy (234,246).


Here’s a general overview on the calculations previously published in the Ultra news:

The ranking was elaborated on the basis of the participation and results obtained by the athletes in the international races selected by the ISF.

In calculating the points, the ranking is based on a proprietary ISF algorithm specifically studied for outdoor running, taking into account a consolidated algorithm used by the International Ski Federation.

Fifty-four races were selected for the 2013 season (24 Ultra, 20 Sky and 10 Vertical) – see ISF announcement in March.  The selection was aimed at identifying the world’s most prestigious races with the greatest number of elite athletes participating, as indicated in the ISF news in January.

In each selected race, the first 30 men and first 15 women were counted. For each athlete, points were calculated on the basis of:  the final position, the time relative to the winner and the number of elite athletes ahead or behind.

The final points were calculated on the average of the three best results of the season obtained by each athlete.  For athletes who did not participate in at least three of the selected races throughout the season, a penalty of 11% was applied to those who participated in only two races, and 22% was applied to those who participated in just one.

The 2014 ranking will be based on 2013, but with a more precise indication of the elite athletes based on the previous year’s ranking.

The ISF ranking will be complete at the end of the 2015 season as the points will be calculated on the average of the previous three seasons with a weighted coefficient for each year.

The ISF assesses the yearly performances in their whole within the context of the results and performance

in each race.  As in other disciplines, it does not analyse the performance in absolute terms due to the many variables in outdoor running (vertical climb, type of terrain, climate, level of the competition… etc), the comparison between different races or different editions of the same race, would be too approximate.”


Following on from the Ultra and Sky distances, the Vertical will be announced next.  Subsequently, all the runners will be listed by country.


2013 Sky ranking

Top 100 men

Top 50 women


2013 ISF Ultra ranking

Top 100 men

Top 50 women


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