World record holder of 110m hurdle Liu Xiang slipped one place to rank third as the International Amateur Association Federation (IAAF) released the latest world rankings in Lausanne Wednesday.

American dual Dominique Arnold and Terrence Trammell take the first and second places with points of 1,393 and 1,387 respectively. Allen Johnson and Ladji Doucoure fell four places to eighth and ninth apiece.

The updated rankings excluded the results from last year's World Championships and Oslo grand prix, which resulted in Liu's slippery, 18 points adrift of Arnold. Liu finished second in World Championships with a time of 13:08.

The current ranking comes from six-stage results in 2006, with Liu earning 1,490 points from the Lausanne GP by breaking world record in 12:88. The lowly-categorized Osaka GP gold was not enough to bring in many points for Liu.

Frenchman Doucoure, the World Championships and Oslo GP gold medallist, dropped to ninth from fifth in the range while veteran Johnson extended his decline for failing to leave marks in this year's races.

The 4-7th arrayed hurdlers are Stanislavs Olijars (Latvia, 1338), Maurice Wignall (Jamaica, 1335), Dayron Robles (Cuba, 1333) and Aries Merritt (United States, 1328).

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2006)