A man running 22s in the 200 is more impressive than this. The reason many 80 year olds don’t do this is because there is no money and no scholarships for running 29. Lastly, I can’t help but comment that old white people are the ones going for these records. I love white people, but we have to do better than this. Good for him and all, he’s healthy, but is this really a worth athletic feat? Are the standards that low?
what a crazy take . I'm 71 and the reason is (1) most people over 65 don't run period - if they ever did & this guy quite the outlier and (2) injuries and/or health reasons
Sorry, you don't get it. It's clearly due to the lack of scholarships...
He is a role model for healthy aging. Older track and field athletes like this show that 70+ year olds aren't automatically doomed to frailty and and weekly doctors visits.
He should be an inspiration to millions of seniors... as are the other runners in that race, including one of my teammates, Roger Pierce, who is recovering from back surgery and finished just outside the podium in that race.
I hear you, but A man running 22s in the 200 is more impressive than this.
No it isn't. Lots of people have done that even a few women.
You have to look at the rarity of thing to understand the impressiveness of it. It's more difficult to run 29 at 80 because of the extreme reduction of humans who even exist that are remotely capable of it.
There is nothing remotely special about a 22 200m from a man.
Take a look at how Joachim Cruz looks at his age. He isn't competing in master's events but looks like he could easily take down master's 800m WRs. In this little Instagram video he talks about how he trained for the 800 in his younger days.
As someone who is well into middle age, these type of results are incredibly impressive.
I looked up the progression of over-80 sprint records and saw that "the" Payton Jordan once held many of these sprint records in times not much slower than Brown.
Take a look at how Joachim Cruz looks at his age. He isn't competing in master's events but looks like he could easily take down master's 800m WRs. In this little Instagram video he talks about how he trained for the 800 in his younger days.
Not easily. M60 WR like 2:07 and getting faster. It's easier for him to drop down and race 200m like Joetta Clark is doing.
Cruz's life expectancy is about 80. Of course I wish him 100, but let's check back in 17 years. Birthday March 12. Tough for any man to go past 80, let alone run fast at that age.
His Father died at age 50 in 1981 of heart attack. He's obviously much fitter and healthier though.
Take a look at how Joachim Cruz looks at his age. He isn't competing in master's events but looks like he could easily take down master's 800m WRs. In this little Instagram video he talks about how he trained for the 800 in his younger days.
Not easily. M60 WR like 2:07 and getting faster. It's easier for him to drop down and race 200m like Joetta Clark is doing.
Cruz's life expectancy is about 80. Of course I wish him 100, but let's check back in 17 years. Birthday March 12. Tough for any man to go past 80, let alone run fast at that age.
His Father died at age 50 in 1981 of heart attack. He's obviously much fitter and healthier though.
Cruz looks great for a 63 year old. Slim and fit. He's got to work hard on healthy lifestyle because of his father's genetics.
Impressive. However, i believe we'll keep see these masters records continue to drop as people are making it more of a priority to be fit and athletic as they age. Compared to what it was like 20,30 years ago where running and chasing times was seen as a young man's game.
Kenton is the real deal. He's three years older than me, so we only overlap a couple of years, but I've finished second to him when we did race.
Around 2010, I noticed that whenever those born after WWII moved into a new age group, world records began to fall at a greater rate than before. Better nutrition and better living conditions played a part. More recently, it's been improved training methods, better shoes, and better recovery methods.
Simply put, today's M80 elite track runners are functionally younger than their M80 counterparts of a couple of decades ago.
You're describing the baby boom generation. Surely part(but not all) of this is just population expansion. If you sample from a population of 2x as many 80-year-olds you should expect more fast runners.
You're describing the baby boom generation. Surely part(but not all) of this is just population expansion. If you sample from a population of 2x as many 80-year-olds you should expect more fast runners.
A man running 22s in the 200 is more impressive than this. The reason many 80 year olds don’t do this is because there is no money and no scholarships for running 29. Lastly, I can’t help but comment that old white people are the ones going for these records. I love white people, but we have to do better than this. Good for him and all, he’s healthy, but is this really a worth athletic feat? Are the standards that low?
I didn't really understand how to put these masters performances into perspective when I was younger. Now I can. I'm 45 and get injured very easily.
So I see these times that 50 or 60 year guys run (or this dude - 81!) and sure, absent of context, it doesn't seem that fast. I could run a 29 second 200 as a teenager my first few weeks in the sport. But the thing is, at age 81, how do you even complete a sprint uninjured? Never mind the time, I'm 100% serious that I don't think I could run an all-out 200 at age 45 because my calves get injured any time I try to run below 6 minute mile pace.
Aging brings this crazy degree of difficulty for simply completing the training.
I ran 22 for 200m and let me tell you, it’s not that impressive, I wasn’t even close to National level. I’m turning 50 now and ran a 200m a few months ago and ran 27, so 29 at 80 is impressive. Running that time for 80 is extremely impressive and if you can’t see that now, just wait another 20-30 years and see what you think then.
Anyone arguing this feat isn't wildly impressive is completely out of touch. I'm a 29 y/o man and I'm 100% certain I have a few friends my age who could not crack 30s and some aren't even overweight, just not athletic. I'd say sub-30s at 50+ is a life goal for me and this guy is 81!
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