world record

Neringa Jakstiene, (575) in front row, celebrates with fellow Ironlady pentathletes after her world record outing. Photo by Ken Stone

Records July 19, 2024

W60 Neringa Jakstiene clobbers world records in pentathlon and long jump as heat sends man to ICU

Last March at Chicago indoor masters nationals, new 60-year-old Neringa Jakstiene set world records in the pentathlon, high jump and 60-meter hurdles. What to do for an encore at Sacramento masters outdoor nationals? On Thursday, Day 1 of the meet at Sacramento’s American River College, she set a W60 world record in the outdoor pentathlon — and took down long-standing American records by Phil Raschker in the 80-meter hurdles and long jump. Also: crushing Christiane Schmalbruch’s 4.75 (15-7) world record in the long jump. Neringa’s series on a day in the 90s: 13.00 in the 80-meter hurdles, 9.13 meters (29-11½)…

Records November 13, 2019

William Platts pulverizes M90 world record in throws pentathlon at Nevada Senior Games

Bonnie Parrish-Kell of the Nevada Senior Games graciously informs us of a remarkable record in the throws pentathlon set at her USATF-sanctioned meet Oct. 11 at University of Nevada Las Vegas. “Last month,” she writes, “36 track and field records were set at the Nevada Senior Games, including world and American records in throws pentathlon. William Platts, a 91-year-old from Boise, Idaho, set those records for his age group, and they may stand for quite some time.” Javelin specialist William — who holds six ARs over age groups M80, M85 and M90 — ran up a score of 4927 crushing…

Records May 7, 2019

Spring fling of Ireland’s Anne Gilshinan: from W50 Torun silver to W55 WR in 1500-meter run

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…

General October 10, 2018

M70 SoCal TC foursome run 4×800 WR, crashing 11-minute barrier in Wichita

Relay records fall so often that I tend to get jaded. But when an M70 SoCal Track Club foursome ran in Wichita a couple weekends ago, the result was stunning and historic. The team of Gary Patton, Tim Wigger, Salih Talib and Grady Cash clocked 10:51.08 in the 4×800 to crush the listed WR of 11:09.87 by Jim Selby, Alfonse Escobar, Gunnar Linde and Avery Bryant at 1998 Orono nationals. That’s 20 years ago! In July, the team of Fred Lindsley, Grady, Tim and Salih ran a pending WR of 11:03.46 at West Regionals in Culver City, California. (I noted…

If Karla keeps up the super sprinting at Malaga, she'll be a WMA Athlete of the Year contender

Records August 12, 2018

O Karla, Karla, Karla! Del Grande claims third W65 WR in 100 at NACAC exhibition

After setting four world records in a couple weeks, what does W65 Karla del Grande do to relax? On Saturday, she jumped into a masters exhibition 100 and lowered her own WR anew. Competing at the NACAC Senior (Kiddie) Championships in Toronto, Karla rode a legal wind to a sizzling 13.91 clocking for third (behind a W40 and W45). Minutes later, M50 Chris Warburton won the men’s race in 11.72 (thanks to an illegal wind of 3 mps.) Also contested were men’s and women’s 800s. And in the open women’s 100, W35 Tahesia Harrigan-Scott of British Virgin Islands clocked a…

Results of Des Moines masters exhibition neglect to note a stunning M70 world record.

Records June 21, 2018

Charles Allie annihilates M70 WR over 200 with sub-26 at Des Moines nationals

Hall of Famer and former WMA Athlete of the Year Charles Allie pulled a Usain Bolt at Des Moines USA open nationals Thursday, running away with a “mixed masters” 200 exhibition in a spectacular 25.75 seconds. That made him, at 70, the oldest human to go sub-26 in the deuce. He crushed the listed M70 world record of 26.47 by Britain’s Glyn Sutton at 2015 Lyon worlds. On the Age-Graded Tables, his mark is equivalent to an open (20-30) time of 19.68. (Methinks it should be 19.08.) (Charlie ran a 26.45 indoor WR this past winter, so he improved the…

Marianne the Muscular has the form to reach 40 feet perhaps

Records June 1, 2018

Marianne Maier’s monster throw is W75 world record in the shot

The German masters seite Lampis.net reports a massive improvement in the W75 shot world record. “The versatile 75-year-old “Maierin” [Marianne Maier] improved the global record … to 11.80m (38-8 3/4). It would have to be more precise – she pulverized it [by] 70 centimeters! And that with only three attempts” during a heptathlon Sunday at the Manfred Gonner Gedenkwettkampf der Masters. (See results here.) The listed WR is 11.10 (36-5) by Britain’s Evaun Williams at 2013 Porto Alegre worlds. “And since we are still pretty early in the outdoor season, the highlights are yet to come — it is not…