Leon Griffiths and Nicolas Lenggenhager have both achieved new career-highs after their results at last month’s IWT Malta Open.
Griffiths, who won the title by defeating Kresten Hougaard in the final, lands at No.2 while Lenggenhager moves up to No.6 with a bronze medal.
While Lenggenhager reached his second consecutive podium after finishing second in Sheffield, both players’ rises were also helped by the loss of points for retired Arnaud Genin. The Frenchman fell down to No.7 in the rankings and will drop out of the top 10 in the coming months.
Astrid Reimer-Kern lands at No.8 after collecting the IWT Malta Open title. Despite finishing second, a loss of points from 2018 means that Anna-Klara Ahlmer actually loses a little bit of ground in the Race to No.1.
Men’s Singles – Griffiths & Lenggenhager Rewarded for Busy Start to the Year
Leon Griffiths and Nicolas Lenggenhager have seen a lot of each other this year. The two players have competed in all three of the year’s tournaments so far, with Griffiths winning two of them and Lenggenhager reaching two podiums.
This success has seen both enjoy healthy ranking rises, with Griffiths now hunting down World No.1 Morten Jaksland. Lenggenhager is also now less than 250 points away from moving inside the world’s top five after his superb start to the year.
Kresten Hougaard was the other success story in Malta, finishing as the runner-up. That position was enough to see him move ahead of Luka Penttinen and back up to No.4 in the world.
A combination of Rav Rykowski dropping points and Duncan Stahl gaining points means that the two have swapped places. Stahl is back up to No.9 with Rykowski now at risk of leaving the top 10.
After beating Duncan Stahl to finish fourth in Malta, Malte Thyregod enjoys a 13 spot rise to No.38. That makes him the highest-ranked player to have competed in four or fewer tournaments, a remarkable achievement.
Michal Kurek moves into the top 20 for the first time at No.20, while Koen Hageraats, Cornelius Radermacher and Damien Andre are all less than 1,000 points away from cracking the top 10 for the first time.
Other players to enjoy a rise of at least 20 spots in the top 100 are Mateusz Skorek, Christian Börner and Rafał Szlazak.
The full Men’s Singles rankings are available here.
Women’s Singles – Malta Champion Reimer-Kern Rises to No.8
There was not much movement in the Women’s Singles rankings, with just four players active in Malta at the lite level. Titlist Astrid Reimer-Kern was the big winner. The German moved up to No.8, landing back in the top 10.
With the World Championships fast approaching, the top players will want to secure a seeding. With Reimer-Kern a two-time runner-up, she’ll hope to continue her move up the rankings to give herself the best chance of a favourable draw.
The three players to slide down the rankings are Bettina Bugl, Irina Olsacher and Margaux Randjbar. Olsacher slides back out of the top 10 but has a good chance to move back in as she competes at this month’s IWT Swiss Open.
The removal of points from 2018’s Austrian Open sees both Virág Sákovics and Elisabeth Seehofer slide out of the top 20. That allows Silke Altmann and Dara Ladner to both head in the opposite direction, returning.
After winning the Women’s B Singles crown in Malta, Gaëlle Wavre enjoys a small rise. The Swiss player is up 13 spots to No.34 in just her second year competing on the international stage.
The full Women’s Singles rankings are available here.
Best of the Rest – No Major Changes in Quiet Rankings Month
It was a pretty quiet month across the board for the racketlon world rankings. The Men’s Doubles saw Leon Griffiths and Nicolas Lenggenhager move up three spots each to No.5 and No.6 respectively. Sweden’s René Lindberg is also up to No.10, leapfrogging Georg Stoisser and Tommi Laine.
Anna-Klara Ahlmer and Kirsten Kaptain both enjoyed one spot rises in the Mixed Doubles World Rankings to land at No.4 and No.10 respectively.
Frank Kleiber is the new World No.2 in the Men’s Seniors Doubles World Rankings. The German joins Marcel Weigl in moving up one spot as Tommi Laine tumbles down to No.4. Duncan Stahl remains comfortably at World No.1.
June’s full Racketlon World Rankings are available here.
Interested in earning a world ranking or improving your current one? Check out the 2022 Racketlon World Tour here. We currently have six different tournaments open for players of all ages and abilities.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
