Women's series advances at IAAF World Championships

As a result of today's Women's IAAF World Championships Marathon in Osaka, Japan, five women made significant advances on the 2006-07 World Marathon Majors Leaderboard. Catherine Ndereba (KEN) notched her first win since the launch of the series, advancing her into a tie for fourth place with fellow Kenyan, Rita Jeptoo. Both have a total of 35 points.

Zhou Chunxiu (CHN) took second place to earn an additional 15 points and tie her for second in the 2006-07 series with Gete Wami (ETH). With all of her points having being earned in the 2007 calendar year, Zhou has now taken a commanding lead in the 2007-08 series as she is the only athlete who has placed in the top five twice this year.

Today's top five finishers in Osaka are as follows:
1. Catherine Ndereba, KEN, 2:30:37
2. Zhou Chunxiu, CHN, 2:30:45
3. Reiko Tosa, JPN, 2:30:55
4. Zhu Xiaolin, CHN, 2:31:21
5. Lidia Simon, ROU, 2:31:26