7 pacesetters help Emma Mazzenga set W80 WR at 400 meters

Emma, No. 80, surrounded by pacesetters after WR 400.

A month after turning 80, Emma Mazzenga ran 400 meters at an elite meet in Padua, Italy. (See results here.) In front of 6,000 people September 1 and with seven pacers, Emma clocked 1:31.21, crushing the listed W80 WR of 1:40.45 by American Polly Clarke in 1990 but also a pending mark of 1:35.76 by Alice Cole in July. Our friend Rosa Marchi, one of the pace-setters, writes: “Emma run in a meeting with international champions like Kellie Wells, Dylan Armstrong, LaShawn Merritt and Krivoshapka.” Here’s the phototimer shot. After the race, she signed autographs. Nani Prampolini shot the video below. Her time — a tenth faster than my 400-meter hurdles at Olathe — is worth 48.24 on the Age-Graded Tables. Congrats to Emma!

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September 6, 2013

2 Responses

  1. Mary Harada - September 6, 2013

    excellent – 7 pace setters – that is fantastic – what a great thing for Emma and nice that the track meet set this up for her to take a crack at the record. She is a lovely woman – and I am delighted to see that she is running so well at age 80. I am sorry that Alice Cole did not get to enjoy her WR for very long but that is the way it goes. Records are made to be broken.
    Thanks for posting this Ken.

  2. Weia Reinboud - September 8, 2013

    This is what Laurie and others should take as example, lots of pacers. Nice service of all those girls.

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