September 2008 Rankings – Including FPAW2008 + New #1

This new rankings list is a doozy! Six new tournaments including both the FPA Worlds and the European Freestyle Championships. A new (returning) number one player. Three new entries into the top ten open players.

Here are the lists: Open | Women

Here are some stories:

• Tom Leitner retakes the number one spot from Fabio Sanna after winning Open Pairs at the FPA Worlds. Open Pairs was a huge factor here, as both Tom and Fabio were in the Open Pairs photo finish at Worlds. Had Tom placed less than first or Fabio placed better than 3rd, Fabio probably would have retained the top ranking. Co-op at FPA Worlds also hurt Fabio. Had his team made the finals and placed 5th or better, he could have retained #1 even with the same Open Pairs finishing order.
• The battle at the top was unpredictable and dynamic. No one player dominated worlds this year. Reto Zimmerman earned the most points with a victory in Co-op and a 5th in Pairs. Pat Marron and Dave Lewis were only a few points behind, with their seconds in both Pairs and Co-op. Reto vaults into the Top 10 and actually doesn’t even have a full slate of results – scary! Both Pat and Dave return to the Top 5. Joakim Arvesk‰r blasts up to #7 with his Co-op victory at FPAW and EFC.
• Clay Collera remains solidly at #3 but closes the gap to #1 to only about 100 points.
• Lots of big upward movement, typical of a post-Worlds list. Amplify that with a European Freestyle Championships that happened within a month, and you see lots of rising stars and returning veterans. Cindy Kruger drops from 68 to 149 as her Co-op and Pairs results from FPAW2006 fall off the list.
• The stories on the Women’s rankings list aren’t as dramatic. Eleonora Imazio keeps the #1 ranking. Lisa Hunrichs closes in, moving from 4 to 2. Amy Schiller, Cindy Kruger, and Judith Haas all enter the Top 10.

Tell us about other stories you see on the list. Let us know if you hit your best ranking ever. Contact me directly if you see any errors.