Hugo is back in the Top 3 of the world ranking! After his historic campaign at the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, he has retaken third place in the list. This is the highest position ever held by an athlete from outside Europe and Asia.

In the ranking released on Tuesday (6), Hugo reached 4,070 points, gaining three positions on the previous week. He is only behind China’s Wang Chuqin (7,925) and Fan Zhendong (5,523), Olympic champion in Paris-2024.

Hugo’s fourth-place singles finish at the Olympics earned him 700 points. The result was the best ever for the Americas, surpassing his fifth place at Tokyo-2020.

Hugo is back in the Top 3 after just over two years. He was in the world’s Top 3 for 12 weeks between February 1 and April 26, 2022.

How does the table tennis ranking work

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) ranking takes into account each athlete’s eight best results over the last 52 weeks. Thus, the points earned in each competition are valid for one year and expire after this period.

This is why Hugo has overtaken Felix Lebrun in the ranking. They both scored the same 700 points by reaching the Olympic semi-final, as there is no distinction between third and fourth places. To include the new result, the Frenchman dropped 267 points, while the Brazilian gave up 175. As the difference between them was only 42, Hugo moved ahead.

On the ITTF website, you can see the complete updated ranking, as well as the sequence of each athlete’s eight best results over the last 12 months, by clicking on their name – check it out here.

Consistency in the ranking

Hugo has a solid record in the ranking: he has been in the Top 10 for more than 300 consecutive weeks, since November 2018, and in only four of them has he been outside the Top 8. And the format of the ranking, with a 52-week cut-off, demonstrates the consistency he has had in international events to remain so well positioned.

Since 2018, Hugo had 14 podium finishes in the international circuit, winning seven titles. These titles make him the second greatest champion in the history of the WTT so far, only behind Wang Chuqin. He has also dominated continental events and achieved Brazil’s best results at the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

+ Check out here Hugo’s results in 2024

In the same period, only one other athlete managed to stay alongside Hugo in the Top 10 of the ranking: Fan Zhendong, who, as well as winning gold in Paris-2024, is the current two-time world champion.

See below the evolution of the ranking over this period:

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Uma publicação compartilhada por Hugo Calderano (@hugocalderano)