Technicality gives Raygun world number one ranking

The 37-year-old university lecturer failed to score any points in all three of her competition rounds in Paris, with a routine that included unorthodox moves, such as the sprinkler and the kangaroo hop.
“The record is there. But anything can happen in a battle,” she said in her first sitdown interview last week, when asked about her polarising performance.
The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has also come under intense public scrutiny not just for its rankings, but its “credibility” as a voice for the sport.
In Tuesday’s statement the WDSF tried to address criticisms that had been swirling online over the transparency of its rankings head on.
It explained that “ranking events” had intentionally not been held between the end of 2023 and the start of the Olympics, to allow athletes to “focus solely” on the Games.
That had created a set of “unique circumstances” which meant that some athletes had been ranked based only on a single event.
In Gunn’s case the 1,000 points, which place her at the top of the table, come from a first-place finish at the Oceania continental championships which were held in October of 2023.
“The world rankings as they currently stand should be interpreted in conjunction with results from recent global breaking competitions for a more accurate reflection of the global competitive landscape,” the WDSF statement added.
The weeks-long saga over Raygun’s performance has split opinion within the breakdancing community, with some throwing their support behind the embattled athlete, while others have publicly accused her of making a mockery of the sport.
It has also sparked questions over whether breaking – which debuted in Paris but is not on the programme for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles – should have ever been included in the Olympics, due to the organic nature of the genre, which doesn’t necessarily suit organised competition.