The long-delayed open and women’s October rankings are now online. On September 13, burglars broke into my home and stole many things, including the computer that housed the rankings spreadsheet. Luckily, I had a backup of the pre-Worlds rankings, but I still had to reconstruct most of the summer season before compiling October’s list.
There are a lot of rankings changes this month. Players at Jam & Go and the European Championships grabbed bundles of points, while American players mostly lost points as the 2002 Jammers Championships, California Freestyle Championships and Tampico all fell off the list. The only US points came from the Tennessee States and the Santa Cruz Open.
Open Highlights:
Clay Collera: Reaches a career-high #6. Might be the highest European ranking since Jan Ekman.
Pat Marron: Continues his ascent within the top ten, up to #7 this month.
Stefan Karlsson: Up six to #12. A career high ranking?
Fabio Sanna: Rockets into the top 20 barely a year after starting to play. He is at #18, but that’s just a pit stop on the way up.
Andrea Meola: Up ten spots to #20. That’s three Italians and five Europeans in the top 20 (four and six if you count Tommy Leitner). If Meola keeps improving his natural game, he will make a huge impact in 2005 and beyond.
Piccio Cusma: Meola’s teammate brings a special energy to every performance. Hard work and clutch results have brought him to #22.
The Germans: Take a look at the Jam & Go video (23mb) on Freeskyler. The number of talented freestylers I had never seen just blew me away. Is Germany the next Italy?