Yomi Omogbeja (07/05/2005)

Kenya's Martin Lel, the London marathon champion, has made a remarkable leap to the top according to the latest 2005 outdoor performances report that has been released by IAAF.

Lel, 23, took the biggest step up in the Top-20 rising 19 places from 24th to 5th with 1275 points in the road running category.

But his time of 2:07:26 in London is ranked as the leading marathon time this year with 1353 points, followed by 2:07:38 of Spaniard's Julio Rey, while Japan's Toshinari Takaoka is placed third in 2:07:41.

Japan-based Kenyan, Martin Mathati, tops the men's 10,000m performance in 27:08.42, with former world 10,000m champion, Charles Kamathi (13:11.98) second and John Kariuki (13:12.12) third.

In the women's category, Kenya's Mary Mureith Wangari tops 5000m with a time of 15:18.37, ahead of Australia's Benita Johnson's (15:21.02) and Japanese Terumi Asoshina (15:23.61) second and third respectively.

Freitag back

Reigning World High Jump champion Jacques Freitag moved back into the Top-10 of his Event Ranking by winning the South African Championships in Durban with 2.35m (1267 points) rising to 8th place.

Kenyan Catherine Ndereba, who won an historic fourth Boston Marathon title with 2:25:13 (1246 points) move up one place to 3rd behind Briton Paula Radcliffe and RomaniaN Constantina Dita-Tomescu.

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele still leads the men's overall ranking with 1454 points, while Yelena Isinbayeva leads the women overall with 1465 points.

Four African sprinters Ghanaian Aziz Zakari (1323) 6th, Nigerian trio Olusoji Fasugba (1238) 11th, Deji Aliu (1236) 12th and Uchenna Emedolu (1216)19th are in the men's 100m top 20.