The greatest masters performances of all time
Wanna lose your mind? Try to pick the best masters record in history. It’s not enough to know all events. You have to factor in age and stuff. The question came up today when a British masters journalist asked me: “We are running a feature on ‘best ever’ moments in athletics. What in your opinion is the ‘best ever’ masters’ record?â€
Since I had chores to do, I pulled some marks out of a hat. But I’ve been putting marks into the hat over time, so it’s not as if I threw darts at Pete Mundle’s Masters Age Records.
My reply:
That’s a great question — and one that I’ve asked several times myself.
The answer given by Al Sheahen is found in this interview:
Al told me:
It’s about a 15-way tie. A few that come to mind: Ron Taylor’s 11.57 100 at age 57; Payton Jordan’s 13.64 100 at age 75; Ralph Romain’s 52.74 400 at age 58; Eamonn Coghlan’s 3:58.15 mile at age 4l; Derek Turnbull’s 16:38.8 5000 at age 65; Guido Mueller’s 55.69 400H at age 49; Evy Palm’s 32:34 10K at age 46.
I conducted the interview before many other great records were set.
My own favorites are:
for men — the M100 100: 30.86 by South African Philip Rabinowitz in 2004 — because the object of masters track is being the oldest fastest person standing.
for women — the W40 1500: 3:59.78 by the Soviet Yekatarina Podkopayeva in 2004 at age 42 — because it’s even more profoundly amazing than Coghlan’s sub-4 indoor mile and is routinely disregarded in preparing the Age-Graded Tables.
That’s my opinion. What’s yours?
2 Responses
Where are the throwers: Powell, Oldfield, Oerter, Sydyk?
Field is part of the sport!
DAVID ASHFORDS 13.73 WORLD RECORD HAS TO BE IN THE TOP TEN ALONG WITH HIS LEGITIMATE 13.97 110HH 42INCH HURLDLE TIME AND WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT MR.ASHFORD HAS IN STORE FOR THE WORLDS IN SPAIN , USA TRACK AND FEILD WILL BE WELL REPRESENTED,IN 2005 IN THE M-40 HH. HINT 13.53 OR BETTER
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