In 1974, Anne McKenzie of South Africa ran 4:49.2 for 1500 meters at age 49. It was a W45 outdoor world record, which would stand 11 years. Now it looks like 55 is the new 45. On Saturday, 55-year-old Anne Gilshinan scorched a metric mile in 4:45.65 at an Irish Milers meet in the seaside resort town of Greystones, Ireland. The record she beat was only two weeks old — 4:48.65 by world champ Clare Elms in Tonbridge, Britain.

As a 54-year-old, Anne took silver in the W50 1500 at Torun worlds, losing by only three-hundredths of a second (to the 4:50.14 by Germany’s Eva Trost). Now she has W55 all to herself.

On the Age-Graded Tables, Anne’s mark is equivalent to an open time of 3:54.6, which would be No. 12 all-time. (The listed WR is 3:50.07 by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba.) The listed W55 American record, BTW, is 5:08.96 by Lorraine Jasper.

On Facebook, Gilshinan posted a photo of herself with the new WR.

Time for a new addition to the WR progressions.

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