M40 Shabunin shatters 3,000 indoor world record: 8:04.34

Vyacheslav Shabunin

Pete Magill discovered an amazing masters indoor record, set yesterday in Russia. The European Athletics site reports: “Second in the men’s 3000m, the ever-young Vyacheslav Shabunin posted
a world masters record (40+) of 8:04.34. The current mark listed by world-masters-athletics.org is 8:09.13 set by Ireland’s Marcus O’Sullivan in 2002.” Last year, just before turning 40, Vyacheslav ran the 1500 in 3:41.41 — a sub-4-minute mile pace. So he could be priming himself for a shot at the M40 mile world record. The listed outdoor best is 4:02.53 by Britain’s David Moorcroft and the indoor best is the legendary 3:58.13 by Eamonn Coghlan in 1994. Could the Russian go where Steve Scott, Tony Young and Jim Sorensen didn’t? Stay tuned. The Russian’s 8:04 converts to an open equivalent of 7:37.7 on the 2006 Age-Graded Tables. (The world record is 7:24.90.)

Vyacheslav has the best shot at sub-4 at 40 since Jim Sorensen.

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January 8, 2010

9 Responses

  1. tony young - January 8, 2010

    This guy is a former 3:49 miler from his youth! About what Eamonn Coghlan was and then he ran his 3:58 Masters time. This IS the kind of talent needed to run a sub four after four decades.
    Great ~ great ~ great!
    I would love to know the workouts that he is doing? If he has sub 1:53 800m speed now, then a sub four is ON.
    Gotta get the Masters time under Webb’s HS time someday.
    Cheers

  2. Ken Stone - January 8, 2010

    letsrun.com message board has some good comments also:
    http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3370274

  3. Thomas Kreuzpeintner - January 9, 2010

    ….I think the question is,….does he care enough about the mile??
    Though he ran it very well in his proffessional youth…most likely by getting paid to do so.. it be a bit harder now because it most likely requires travel to at least the UK…or having somebody put a race together locally for him.
    Other than in the UK european runners don’t care much about the mile and are all about the 1500. I for myself only ran it once during roughly 10 years of mid distance running in Germany. There is hardly any races over that distance to be found over there.
    Anyway…he definitely got what it takes..I just think that he’d probably shoot more likely for the 1500 than the mile. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds..

  4. Anonymous - January 9, 2010

    Maybe he will lower his 8:04 at the Russian winter indoor meet on 2/7
    http://www.rusathletics.com/russianwinter/index-e.htm The season leader is only 8:02
    Look for a new indoor 600 meter World record there:
    http://eng.rusathletics.com/nov/nov.php?ind=5740
    J. Gray has the indoor 600 yard Masters WR
    Still has the outdoor record as well.
    His split in the 2000 oly trials must have been around 1:20 for a Masters record before slowing and finishing last in his heat. He was leading up to the 600 point. Heats: I-1. Mark Everett (unat) 1:47.15 (53.0/54.2); 2. Bryan Woodward (Reeb) 1:47.43 (52.9/54.5) (27.0); 3. Trinity Townsend (NBal) 1:47.89 (52.8/55.1); 4. Matthew Kalwinsky (Reeb 1:49.16 (53.0/56.2); 5. Anders Christiansen (unat) 1:50.95; 6. Johnny Gray (SMTC) 1:53.27 (52.84/60.43). Anyone know where to find video of that event?

  5. Ken Stone - January 9, 2010

    This was posted on the T&FN message board:
    Here’s a link to his IAAF bio:
    http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=s/athcode=9559/index.html
    And his Russian Athletics bio:
    http://eng.rusathletics.com/sbo/atlet.php?atlet=957&ty=2010#ay
    Here are some details on Shabunin’s career that suggest he is capable of getting under 4:00, and perhaps even getting under Coghlan’s over-40 world best.
    800m best: 1:46.82 (from Russian Athletics bio, no date; IAAF bio lists 1:47.00 from 1996)
    recent 800m: 1:50.77 (January 2008).
    3000m best: 7:39.24 (1995)
    some recent 3000m: 7:53.69 (February 2008), 8:06.48 (May 2009), 8:04.34 (this week).
    1500m/mile bests (sub-3:33, sub-3:50):
    3:32.28 (=3:49.26) June 2000
    3:32.37 (=3:49.35) August 2002
    3:32.63 (=3:49.64) September 2003
    3:49.83 Rome 2001
    3:32.85 (=3:49.87) Lausanne 2000.
    recent 1500m/mile:
    3:54.00 June 2009 (listed on Russian Athletics site)
    3:41.41 June 2009 (listed on IAAF and Rus Athl sites).
    As suggestive as these lifetime and recent bests might be for his chances at a sub-4:00 as a veteran athlete, what’s as impressive to me is this: He has a sub-3:42 and/or sub-4:00 each of the last 18 years (1992-2009). Thus, he is not making a comeback this year, and he may have the “athletic longevity” genes to stay healthy enough to make some real attempts at these marks.

  6. Thomas Kreuzpeintner - January 10, 2010

    …so I better take one of my earlier comments back about not finding “mile races”,…Shabunin indeed ran the “Kremlin Mile” last year in 3:54….amazing.
    However this was the “only mile” he ran in years…compared to lots of 1500m races. If he stays healthy Sorensons 3:44 1500 WR should be his…especially since he has more chances to run this distance within the year.

  7. Weia Reinboud - January 10, 2010

    But a ‘mile’, what is that? Some prehistoric kind of track?

  8. Ken Stone - January 10, 2010

    Latest newsletter from Alfonz Juck reports that Vyacheslav Shabunin clocked another top mark for his age 40+ 2:24.93 (for 1,000 meters).
    http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/display_article.php?id=39318
    WMA doesn’t contest this race, so any record would be unofficial. But a 2:24.93 for 1K suggests he passed the 800-meter mark about 1:56. Nice run.

  9. Anonymous - January 11, 2010

    1000m 2:26.71 Eamonn Coghlan IRL (11/24/52) Gainesville 1/24/94 (indoors)
    That is a new masters World record.

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