It’s (almost) all change in our male leaderboard of the World OCR Rankings with a big shake up from the European contingent, as more races get underway.
Alongside the familiar names of Atkins (CAN, 1), Woods (USA, 5), & Kent (USA, 10), this month sees new faces pop up.
It’s been impossible to miss the runaway success of John Luna-Lima (USA, 3) who came to our judges attention last month, entering the rankings as a wildcard, and this month storming to 3rd place after snatching victory from Atkins (CAN, 1) at Spartan, Big Bear.
Blondeel (BEL, 6) has also made it into the top ten after a lower entry last month with an impressive two for two wins in the well respected and testing OCR Series 6 & 7 events in Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.
After breaking into the top ten last month, DAM (DEN, 2) shot to 2nd place with 3 victories in May across multiple race brands; securing one gold and two silvers at Nordic Race, Toughest Malmo, and Ultimate OCR in Sweden.
Meanwhile in the female rankings, Webster (USA, 1) and Mericle (USA, 2) retain their top spots after performances at Big Bear, with Kolbl’s (SVN, 5) 2nd place victory seeing her hold her position at 5th.
Despite impressive performances at Nordic Race and Ultimate OCR Sweden, Ida-Mathilde Steensgard (DEN, 4) was pipped to 3rd position by Karin Karlsson (SWE, 3) who took victory at Toughest Malmo, and also placed 3rd above Steensgards 4th at Ultimate OCR Sweden.
Returning from an injury which saw her unable to compete at OCRWC ’18, Ulrikke Evensen (DEN, 7) made an impressive comeback with performances at OCR Series Frankfurt (1st) & Spartan St Polten (2nd) , earning her a top 10 spot, debuting at 7.
With victories at the UK & Eire Spartan races, Boisset (FRA, 8) secured an impressive 8 minute gap lead to claim 1st position at the Ireland Spartan Super, and took 2nd place the next day at the Sprint, the 2nd of the 3 series events for the UK & Ireland, ensuring her steady progression up the leaderboard.
Ones to Watch
Frank Oosterom (NL, 14) impressed many of our panel, after two podiums at the OCR Series events, in particular his narrow miss of 1st place to Blondeel (BEL, 6) by only 1 second on a 19km course.
Victor Lövdal (FIN, 8) took double gold at both of Toughest’s events so all eyes are on him to see what he does next.
Cimmie Wignell (SWE, 12) snatched another tight victory with a one second lead over Dam (DEN, 2) at Ultimate OCR Sweden, putting him on our voters radar, but not gaining enough points yet to break into the top ten.
