The UK merit rankings is an overall evaluation of form throughout the 2011 season, produced by Athletics Weekly staff.

The key criteria taken into consideration are head-to-head records, performances at major events, and sequence of marks. Heavy weighting has been placed on the outdoor season, although indoor performances are taken into account.

Merit rankings are intended to paint a truer picture of what happened in 2011, going beyond the basic information presented in a seasonal top list. For example, an athlete may have had one great performance good enough to go to the top of the Power of 10 lists, but if they were beaten by their rivals in all of the key competitions of the year, then merit rankings will take that into account and rank them accordingly.

Some events are easier to assess than others. Sometimes a lack of appearances in key competitions can harm an athlete’s chances of ranking high, likewise injuries can cut short seasons. But we can only rank athletes on what they have achieved – not on what they could have done on a good day.

Here are the top three in each men’s event. The women’s rankings appear here. The full top-10 list of every event, including the details of their season, appeared in our December 29 Annual Review stats special, which is available here.

100m
1 Dwain Chambers
2 Harry Aikines-Aryeetey
3 Marlon Devonish

200m
1 Christian Malcolm
2 James Ellington
3 James Alaka

400m
1 Martyn Rooney
2 Richard Strachan
3 Chris Clarke

800m
1 Andrew Osagie
2 Mukhtar Mohammed
3 Michael Rimmer

1500m
1 James Shane
2 Andrew Baddeley
3 Nick McCormick

5000m
1 Mo Farah
2 Andy Vernon
3 Thomas Farrell

10,000m
1 Mo Farah
2 Chris Thompson
3 Keith Gerrard

Marathon
1 Scott Overall
2 Dave Webb
3 Lee Merrien

3000m steeplechase
1 Luke Gunn
2 James Wilkinson
3 Stuart Stokes

110m hurdles
1 Andy Turner
2 William Sharman
3 Lawrence Clarke

400m hurdles
1 Dai Greene
2 Jack Green
3 Nathan Woodward

High jump
1 Tom Parsons
2 Martyn Bernard
3 Robbie Grabarz

Pole vault
1 Steve Lewis
2 Nick Cruchley
3 Max Eaves

Long jump
1 Chris Tomlinson
2 Greg Rutherford
3 Julian Reid

Triple jump
1 Phillips Idowu
2 Larry Achike
3 Julian Reid

Shot
1 Carl Myerscough
2 Scott Rider
3 Greg Beard

Discus
1 Brett Morse
2 Abdul Buhari
3 Lawrence Okoye

Hammer
1 Alex Smith
2 Mike Floyd
3 Mark Dry

Javelin
1 Lee Doran
2 Mervyn Luckwell
3 James Campbell

Decathlon
1 Daniel Awde
2 Ashley Bryant
3 Ben Hazell

20km walk
1 Alex Wright
2 Ben Wears
3 Tom Bosworth

50km walk
1 Dominic King
2 Daniel King
3 Scott Davis