The race to claim the men’s African New Flag race once again highlights the importance of Continental Championships. As is the case in the Americas men’s race, in which Matthew Wright has assumed pole position in the race to Paris after winning the Americas Sprint Championships, a championship medal is currently making all the difference.
Jean Gael Laurent L`entete of Mauritius is primed to take the African New Flag slot in large part due to his 3rd place at the African Sprint Championships in Blue Bay. That result earned 301 of his 1043 world ranking points and leaves him 140th in the world.
As a reminder, an athlete must be in the top-180 of the world rankings to earn a New Flag place.
In addition, the recipient of the New Flag place must be the highest ranked athlete from their continent and race for a country that has not already qualified an athlete of the same gender to Paris. For this reason, Badr Siwane of Morocco is not eligible despite being ranked 84th in the world. His compatriot, Jawad Abdelmoula, is in line to qualify for the Games which prevents Siwane from claiming a New Flag place.
Alongside his 3rd place in Blue Bay, L`entete finished 7th at the African Championships over the Olympic distance. A 6th place at the African Cup in Kilifi last November has likewise added to his points total.
Although his Kilifi result will soon move to the “previous” period and its points value will drop by a third, L`entete is also racing at the African Cup in Kilifi this weekend and so could add to his points.
As things stand, L`entete is one of two eligible African men inside the top-180 of the world rankings. Siefeldeen Ismail of Egypt is right behind him in 162nd place.
An 8th place finish at the African Olympic distance Championships in Hurghada and a 6th place at the Sprint distance equivalent in Blue Bay lifted Ismail into the top-180. With 939 points, he now finds himself only 104 points away from L`entete. If Ismail can match results like his 12th place at the Asia Cup in Samarkand or his 14th place at the African Cup in Sharm El Sheikh, he may be able to close the gap.
841 is the magic number right now when it comes to taking 180th in the world (that place is held by Jorge Alarcon Familiar of Mexico) and a couple of athletes are within striking distance of it.
In 194th place is Seifeddine Selmi of Tunisia. Selmi will also be racing at the African Cup in Kilifi this weekend and so could add to his points total. He currently has 760 points and so a big result could push him into the top-180.
Moreover, Mohanad Elshafei of Egypt has 698 points in 209th place.
On balance, while both Selmi and and Elshafei have a good chance of getting into the top-180, it will be a challenge to make up the additional 40 places to close in on L`entete.
As things stand, none of the African New Flag contenders are racing at the World Cup or WTCS level, which gives them limited scope to make big jumps in the rankings.
With a good run of results at the Continental Cup level, though, any of the four men named above could find themselves at the Paris Olympic Games next summer.
