Morten Jaksland was the big winner of the latest Racketlon World Rankings as he moved to the top of the Mixed Doubles rankings for the first time.
That now means that Jaksland joins an elite group of players to have been Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles World No.1 at the same time. Jaksland overtook Dan Busby, who fell to No.2.
Elsewhere, Anna-Klara Ahlmer returned to No.3 in the Women’s Singles rankings as Amke Fischer also re-entered the top-10.
Morten Jaksland Reaches New Heights
The last 12 months have been superb for Morten Jaksland and this month’s rankings update is the icing on the cake. Having been World No.1 in the Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles rankings for a number of months, only the Mixed Doubles crown eluded him.
However, after lifting five mixed doubles titles with Zuzana Severinova through 2019, the Dane has finally been rewarded after last month’s CHA Luxembourg Open.
With that move, Jaksland has also guaranteed himself and partner Severinova the top seeding in next month’s World Doubles Championship. Jaksland and Kresten Hougaard will also be top seeds in the Men’s Doubles as they seek to defend their title.
Men’s Singles: Race for the Top 10 Heats Up
With former World No.1 and now-retired Lukas Windischberger set to drop out of the top-10 shortly, the race to take his place. Six men, none of which have been in the top-10 before, are all within 1,000 ranking points of Windischberger and will stand to capitalise if they have a good few months.
Oliver Buhler is the prime candidate at No.11 with Nikola Mikac close behind at No.12. Following those two are Austria’s Bernhard Pilsz, Germany’s Cornelius Radermacher, Ray Jordan from Great Britain and Switzerland’s Christian Schaefer. With Buhler and Radermacher already reaching finals this year, will it be one of them that makes the step up?
Further down the rankings, Adarsh Vikram Narayanaswamy continues to make history. Rising 13 spots to No.52, he becomes the highest-ranked Indian male player in racketlon history. Josselin Gade was the biggest mover in the top-100 as he rose 27 places to No.78 while Keith Lesser re-entered the top-100 at No.85.
Racketlon regulars Jonathan Rucquoy and Jean Michot also made their top-100 debut, landing at No.97 and No.98 respectively.
Women’s Singles: Top 10 Movement Led by Ahlmer
While the Men’s Top 10 saw minimal movement, the Women’s Top 10 was much more active. Anna-Klara Ahlmer overtook Bettina Bugl to reach No.3 after competing in Luxembourg. Below Bugl, Kirsten Kaptein and Nicole Eisler both moved up one spot each as Isabelle Bramhall fell two places to No.7.
With Natalie Paul falling six spots and out of the top 10, a handful of players moved up. The German was replaced by a fellow countrywoman, with Amke Fischer re-entering the at No.10. Christine Seehofer remains as the comfortable World No.1.
Further down the rankings, a second title of the season for Irina Olsacher saw the Austrian rise to No.21, a new career-high. Elsewhere, it was an extremely quiet month in the top 100 for the women. Turkey’s Dolunay Soykan, who finished 2nd in the Women’s B, rose 39 places to No.92 in the rankings. Otherwise, movement across the board was largely minimal.
The full FIR World Rankings are available to view here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Czech Racketlon
