At Riccione, Saturday was a day of rest. But today (Sunday) at least three world records fell, and some athletes executed difficult doubles. In the W50 300 hurdles, Jan Horder of Britain ran 46.19 to beat the listed WR of 47.01 by Aussie Jan Hynes in 1994. In the M85 300 hurdles, Romain Henri Maynard of France (born in 1922) clocked 1:27.09 to nip the listed WR of 1:27.13 by Italy’s Ugo Sansonetti in 2005. But here’s the cool part: Romain apparently ran solo! The other entrants were no-shows. And in the 800, Manuel Gonzalez Munoz, born in 1912, may get credit for an M95 world record of 9:43.12 since WMA doesn’t list an M95 record for that distance. But USATF lists an M95 800 record of 6:02.94 by Herb Kirk in 1991. Go figure.

Riccione TV also produced some more videos — including several showing competition from around Sept. 6 (shot put, race walks, pole vault and hurdles). The video guys focused on Italians mainly, including that fashion designer celebrity Ottavio Missoni, who wore jeans in taking silver in the shot. Best way to see these is using “WMA world masters” as the keywords at YouTube.com
Some other highlights from today:
World indoor mile record holder Kathy Martin of Team USA was upset in the W55 800, taking fourth in 2:34.52 as Italy’s Waltraud Egger won in 2:32.07. (Kathy will come back stronger in longer events, be assured.)
American Hall of Famer Phil Raschker won the W60 pole vault (2.65) and 300 hurdles (52.27), missing the WR of 51.64. Phil has five or six golds so far.
USA Masters Athlete of the Year Nadine O’Connor won the W65 vault with 2.30 and advanced to the finals in the 200.
Tamara Danilova of Russia won the W65 shot at 10.87. In 1972, Tamara took fourth place in the Munich Olympic discus.
In the W70 800, American Jeanne Daprano took gold with a 3:07.89 — about 3.5 seconds off her American record set at Orono. In the W75 800, American Thelma Wilson took gold with her 3:44.91, and Sumi Onodera-Leonard was fourth in 4:39.98.
Johnnye Valien of Los Angeles won the W80 pole vault at 1.10 — and may now be the oldest female vaulter in history. She was born in 1925. Johnnye also took silver in the high jump.
Our Puerto Rican friend Getulio “Tony” Echeandia won the M40 400 hurdles with a 55.62, and American Robert Paulen took silver in the M70 300 hurdles in 50.97, coming close to the listed American record of 50.22 by James Stookey in 2000. Bob won at Orono in 52.16. Tor Trondset of Sweden took gold in 50.07.
New York stockbroker Anselm LeBourne won the M45 800 in 2:02.63, as fellow M45 Kevin Paulk took fourth in 2:05.01. M50 Steve Gallegos won gold in the 800, too, clocking 2:05.55.
American John Nespoli, the defending M50 world shot champion, took silver this time, throwing 15.17 behind the 15.80 of Puerto Rico’s Francisco Ball Rosa.
In the M55 shot, Germany’s Reinhard Krone and American Michael Shiaras both had best throws of 14.66 — but Reinhard’s second-best toss of 14.65 beat Mike’s 14.48. (Mike also had three fouls.)
In the M55 800, Carlos Loaiza of Colombia upset California’s Nolan Shaheed, 2:10.68 to 2:10.72. (But Nolan is two years older. That cost at least a half-second.)
In another 800-meter upset, David Carr of Australia beat Canadian legend Earl Fee in the M75 race, 2:38.99 to 2:39.67. But Earl might have been a little winded, since he had won the 300 hurdles less than 3 hours earlier in 53.63. (At least he didn’t have to rush from stadium to stadium. Both races were at Misano Adriatico.)
Lemme know if I’ve missed any records — or exceptional U.S. performances.
Oh yeah! About 125 miles south of Riccione, Jamaica’s Asafa Powell set an M20 age-group record of 9.74 seconds in the 100-meter dash at an IAAF Grand Prix meet meet in Rieti. Wonder if anyone noticed.