Zuzana Severinová has become the new Women’s Singles World No.1, ending the seven-year reign of recently-retired Christine Seehofer.
The Czech star moves to the top of the world rankings after winning the Nick Matthew Steel City Open Racketlon Challenger.
It was a busy month of action in the racketlon rankings, with Luke Griffiths returning to the top of the Boys Singles rankings and Florian Harca rising back to No.1 in the Boys Doubles rankings.
Women’s Singles – Severinová Reaches Career Milestone
Until four days ago, many racketlon players had never known any woman at the top of the Women’s Singles rankings other than Christine Seehofer. The Austrian had climbed to the top of the mountain in March 2015 and stayed there ever since.
That changed at the start of this month as Czech star Zuzana Severinová was rewarded for years of hard work with a spot at the top of the rankings.
Severinová’s success comes off the back of a perfect start to 2022. The former Girls Singles World No.1 won the Nick Matthew Steel City Open title, adding to her two victories at the IWT Czech Open and SWT GRAWE sidebyside 15. Austrian Open in 2021.
Severinová becomes the 13th Women’s Singles World No.1 in the history of the sport. Of those 13, only four are still active on the Racketlon World Tour; Severinová, Nathalie Vogel, Silke Altmann and Nicole Eisler.
Severinová reached No.1 by leapfrogging both Christine Seehofer and Anna-Klara Ahlmer, who each shuffle down one spot. There is further movement lower down the top 10 as Eisler falls to No.12. That moved Irina Olacher back into the top 10 as Astrid Reimer-Kern rises to No.11.
Margaux Randjbar has also risen back to No.8 with Bettina Bugl replacing her at No.9. Altmann has fallen out of the top 20 for the first time in many years, sliding down six spots to No.21 has not played since before covid. She has already entered the FIR Racketlon World Championships 2022 and we’re excited to have her back competing.
Much of the movement lower down the rankings came from the Nick Matthew Steel City Open. Women’s B Singles runner-up Alexandra Ogram rose five spots to No.33 while Nienke Veldkamp moved to No.43, climbing nine spots.
The biggest movement in the top 100 was saved for Joanna Bennett, who moved up 26 spots to No.83, with Cherisse Lau also climbing 27 spots to No.93.
The full Women’s Singles Rankings are available here.
Men’s Singles – Griffiths Brothers Both Reach New Highs
While Morten Jaksland’s victory in Sheffield simply tightened his grip on World No.1, there was some interesting movement further down the rankings.
Most of that comes in the form of the Griffiths brothers, who both rose to new career highs. After beating his older brother for the first time on a dramatic gummiarm, Luke Griffiths rises eight places to crack the top 20 for the first time at No.18. Meanwhile, Leon moves ahead of Dan Busby and Luka Penttinen to land at No.3.
After reaching the final, there’s another career-high for Nicolas Lenggenhager. The Swiss player moves up two spots to No.7, one behind Kresten Hougaard and overtaking both Rav Rykowski and Emanuel Schöpf.
Max Plettenberg’s breakthrough run to the quarter-finals sees him claim an eight-spot rise to No.8 while Great Britain’s James Langworthy is into the world’s top 50 as he lands at No.43.
Eric Durand also makes his top 50 debut at No.44 while there are big rises for Alex Du Noyer, Luke Barnes and Jermaine Manners, who were all in action in Sheffield.
The full Men’s Singles Rankings are available here.
Doubles Rankings – Severinová & Griffiths Both Rise
Zuzana Severinová’s rankings climb was not just limited to singles. The Czech star also moved up to No.2 in the Mixed Doubles Rankings. This came after winning the Nick Matthew Steel City Open alongside Leon Griffiths. The British player moves up seven spots to No.21.
Severinová’s move was at the expense of both Dan Busby and Anna-Klara Ahlmer. They now sit at No.4 and No.5 respectively, with Myriam Enmer climbing one spot to No.6. Enmer partnered Luke Griffiths in Sheffield, with the younger British brother now at No.44 following a 21 spot rise.
Further down the rankings, Alexandra Ogram, David Bennett, Dianne Baker and Luke Barnes all enjoyed rankings rise of at least 10 spots.
The full Mixed Doubles rankings are available here.
The Women’s Doubles was won by Zuzana Severinová and Stine Jacobsen in Sheffield. Severinová tightens her grip on the world No.2 place as she looks to hunt down Anna-Klara Ahlmer. Her partner, Jacobsen, is now at No.12 following a five-spot move.
Myriam Enmer is another winner, moving up three spots to No.6. Jane Galsworthy was the big winner in the top 50. The British player moved up 32 spots to land at No.47 after partnering Susie Dilloway to third in the Women’s Doubles.
The full Women’s Doubles Rankings are available here.
The Men’s Doubles saw the least amount of movement at the top of the rankings. Dan Busby and Duncan Stahl swapped places, with Stahl now at No.3 and Busby at No.5.
Leon Griffiths won the title alongside Luke Griffiths to rise one spot to No.8. Luke enjoyed a much bigger rise. The younger brother moves to No.19 thanks to an 11 spot rise. Max Plettenberg also moved up 11 places and now sits at No. 21.
Frenchman Anthony Duthuillé is at a career-high No.7 while there were big moves lower down for Luke Barnes and James Langworthy.
The full Men’s Doubles Rankings are available here.
Juniors Rankings – Griffiths & Harca Retake No.1 Spots
While there was minimal movement in the Juniors Rankings, a lot of it was in dramatic fashion at the top. The big storyline is that Luke Griffiths has returned to the top of the Boys Juniors Rankings. The Britsh player has leapfrogged Florian Harca and now sits at No.1, with Matthew Davidson at No.3. The only other top 10 change sees David Bennett rise to No.8.
It’s not all bad news for Harca though. The Austrian has overtaken Matthew Davidson in the Boys Juniors Doubles rankings, returning to World No.1. As is typical of the rivalry between the three, Griffiths sits in third, with the trio separated by less than 200 ranking points.
Will Gregson also enjoyed big rankings jump in the Boys Juniors Doubles rankings. The young Brit moved up six spots to land at No.6 after his silver medal in the Men’s B Doubles.
The only movement of note in the Girls Juniors rankings was a one-spot rise for Cherisse Lau. She leapfrogs Sonja Bieber and now sits at No.6 in the rankings.
The full Juniors Rankings are available here.
Seniors Rankings – Jacobsen Chasing Kaptein in Mixed Doubles
While there were no No.1 changes in the Seniors Rankings, there were a number of moves across the board. Stine Jacobsen has closed the gap on Kirsten Kaptein at the summit of the Seniors Mixed Doubles rankings and is now just 350 points behind. There was also a rise for both Katrin Maldre and Izzy Bramhall as Silke Altmann fell two places to No.9.
Maldre, Bramhall and Jo Shelley also rose in the Women’s Seniors Singles rankings. This was a result of Silke Altmann sliding down to No.8 in the rankings after losing points from the 2018 IWT Malta Open.
In the Men’s Seniors Singles, Christian Schaefer, Ray Jordan, Richard Hobzik, Frank Kleiber and Tommi Laine all enjoyed small ranking rises. Benjamin Graenicher and Thomas Wagner slid the other way in the Top 10.
The Women’s Seniors Doubles saw the biggest movement in the top 10 with nine of the 10 players moving position. Stine Jacobsen rose three spots to No.2 with Izzy Bramhall doing the same to land at No.4. Silke Altmann and Jo Shelley dropped at least two places each while Switzerland’s Susan Rutschmann joins the top 10 at No.10.
The full Seniors Rankings are available here.
Want to get a Racketlon World Ranking? All you have to do is enter one of our Racketlon World Tour tournaments. All tournaments have a number of entry classes for players of all ages and abilities. The full 2022 Racketlon World Tour is available here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
