We know Selemon Barega ran 12:43 but in the end decided you can't really be World #1 if you failed to medal at World U20s and the African champs.

Timothy Cheruiyot had the greatest DL season in history and we hope some people start to appreciate how good he is.

In 2018, Shelby Houlihan enjoyed one of the greatest seasons ever by an American female on the track, but it wasn't quite enough to get her a world #1 ranking.

For the third year in a row, Caster Semenya was undefeated but was this the last of her dominance?  Domestically, Ajee Wilson was the best of a strong group of US runners. Should US#3 Ce'Aira Brown be ranked in the world's top 10?

Emmanuel Korir had the best 800 season since David Rudisha's magical 2012 campaign. Meanwhile, Clayton Murphy started off both indoors and outdoors slowly but nearly returned to his Olympic bronze medal winning form.

Shalane Flanagan cracks the top 5 as we for the first time exclude from our rankings an athlete, Sarah Chepchirchir, not convicted of a doping offense.

LRC supervisitor David Graham has rolled out his 2016 world rankings plus plenty more thoughts on the year in men's marathoning. Obviously the great Kipchoge is #1, but where does Rupp rank?

Sumgong, like Eliud Kipchoge, was the unquestioned world #1 in 2016. Flanagan was one of three Americans to finish in the top 10 at the Olympics (Amy Cragg and Desi Linden were the others) -- only the second time a country had pulled off that feat (after Kenya in 2008).

Ayana may not have earned Olympic gold in the 5,000, but she was utterly dominant apart from that, breaking 14:20 three times in 2016 (before this year, it had been done six times, total). U.S. #1 was a tough choice as Shannon Rowbury earned 3k bronze at World Indoors and set the American 5k record while Molly Huddle crushed everyone in the 5k at the Olympic Trials.

Farah's presence at the top of the podium in Rio was no surprise, but few envisioned Chelimo, who was just 11th at USAs last year, winning America's first Olympic medal in the 5,000 since 1964 and two other Americans cracking the world top 10. *MB: What a year for Team USA! Three American men make our World Top 10 in our 3000/5000 rankings.

Jebet won Olympic gold, crushed the world record and put together the greatest season ever by a women's steepler. Coburn has dominated the U.S. scene for years and took it one step further in 2016 by winning her first Olympic medal.