Who’s the top masters athlete in the world? Hint: Geb
Roger Ruth ranked the track 10K in his latest review of masters-age (over-35) athletes on the 2008 seasonal world lists. And he notes: “Wow! (Haile) Gebrselassie ranks even higher than Derek Miles did in the pole vault. Can any master-age athlete rank higher on this year’s world lists than Haile’s #3? What do you think?” Geb qualifies. He turned 35 last April — well before taking sixth in the Beijing 10,000. And you might think that Geb’s season best of 26:51.20 is a masters world age-group record? Hahahahaha. Think again. The listed WMA M35 record remains as always: 27:17.48 by Portugal’s Carlos Lopes in 1984.
Here is Roger’s list du jour:
Well, the masters did fairly well on the speed event, with a few more representatives on the 2008 100m list than in the pole vault, although not as highly ranked. So, if masters can compete in speed, what’s next? How do they make out in an endurance event? Let’s try the 10,000 meters:
Masters on Women’s 10,000m World List for 2008
n=438
List threshold=35:29.75
41 31:39.20 Dulce María Rodríguez MEX 14 Aug 72 Stanford 4 May
53 31:57.71 Irina Mikitenko GER 23 Aug 72 Menden 3 May
61 32:07.54 Fernanda Ribeiro POR 23 Jun 69 Lisboa 28 Jun
62 32:07.69 Adriana Fernández MEX 4 Apr 71 Stanford 4 May
70 32:14.01 Irina Permitina RUS 3 Feb 68 Kazan 17 Jul
85 32:26.91 Saadia Bourgailh-Haddioui FRA 1 Jan 72 Saint-Maur 6 Jun
90 32:29.52 Alina Gherasim ROU 10 Nov 71 Istanbul 12 Apr
96 32:31.45 Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu NOR 29 May 70 Roskilde 25 May
103 32:37.64 Harumi Hiroyama JPN 2 Sep 68 Kawasaki 27 Jun
116 32:53.74 Dorota Gruca POL 5 Dec 70 Ostrava 12 Jun
129 33:07.49 Helena Javornik SLO 26 Mar 66 Istanbul 141 33:16.61 Tetyana Mezentseva UKR 17 Jan 72 Istanbul
12 Apr
12 Apr
171 33:27.09 Tomoko Yamaguchi JPN 14 Feb 72 Kushiro 16 Jul
178 33:29.1h Edith Masai KEN 4 Apr 67 Nairobi 27 Jun
180 33:29.6h Catherine Ndereba KEN 21 Jul 72 Nairobi 27 Jun
198 33:38.60 Elva Dryer USA 26 Sep 71 Eugene OR 27 Jun
215 33:48.09 Liza Hunter-Galvan NZL 25 Jun 69 Walnut CA 18 Apr
233 33:56.04 Gloria Marconi ITA 31 Mar 68 Rubiera 11 May
306 34:31.05 Lilian Magnusson SWE 18 Oct 68 Helsinki 29 Aug
313 34:34.43 Jo Wilkinson GBR 2 May 73 Watford 14 Jun
358 34:50.89 Márcia Narloch BRA 28 Mar 69 Rio de Janeiro 4 Apr
359 34:51.59 Maria Baldaia BRA 29 Aug 72 São Paulo 25 Jun
360 34:52.04 Nadir de Siqueira BRA 4 Sep 70 São Paulo 8 Jun
362 34:52.28 Jaana Niemelä FIN 1 Jun 72 Helsinki 29 Aug
372
One Response
Many believe GEB is actually about 3 years older then his reported DOB
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