China's Liu Xiang has moved into the top 10 of the men's overall world rankings of the IAAF following his brilliant record-breaking performance at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Lausanne.

Liu, the new men's 110-meter hurdles world record holder, clocked 12.88 in Lausanne and moved into second place in the 110m rankings with 1,402 points, just behind Dominique Arnold of the USA. Arnold also ran inside the old world record time and barely held onto his lead in the rankings by a narrow margin of three points.

Twenty-four-year-old American sprinter Justin Gatlin retains his top place in the men's overall rankings with 1,456 points, seven points ahead of Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele (1449 points).

On the women's side, Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva was replaced at the top by Ethiopian long-distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba after 97 consecutive weeks as the best female athlete in the world.

(CRI July 19, 2006)