As I wrote in the initial post of this series, the procedure is to sort
Mirko Jalava's World Deep Lists <tilastopaja.org> for each event by age
of birth, from 1973 and backward from there, to identify all athletes
on the list of masters age levels (35 and older). In summarizing the
lists, I've bold-faced the data for the oldest on the list, and also
have noted the youngest athlete on the world list in each event.
After satisfying my curiosity about effectiveness of master's athletes
in the pole vault, the next question that emerged was of how well older
competitors do in speed events, especially in the 100 meters. Probably
no older athlete has received as much notice in the women's event as
Merlene Ottey. I wondered whether she was the oldest on the world list.
Then, I wondered whether any male athlete of Ottey's age was running
effectively in this event. Here's what I found:
Masters on Women’s 100m World List
N=1388
List threshold=12.10
19 11.06 Chandra Sturrup BAH 12 Sep 71 Luzern 16 Jul
29 11.13 Chryste Gaines USA 14 Sep 70 Clermont FL 14 Jun
80 11.32 Irina Privalova RUS 22 Nov 68 Moskva 10 Jul
109 11.37 Bettina Müller-Weissina AUT 12 Jul 73 Kapfenberg 19 Jul
223 11.53 Jiang Lan CHN 22 Jan 69 Beijing 23 May
227 11.53 Irina Khabarova RUS 18 Mar 66 Kazan 17 Jul
237 11.54A Luciana dos Santos BRA 10 Feb 70 Cochabamba 31 May
304 11.60 Merlene Ottey SLO 10 May 60 Maribor 11 Jul
320 11.61A Mirtha Brock COL 9 Apr 70 Cali 4 Jul
355 11.65 Donna Fraser GBR 7 Nov 72 Biberach 28 Jun
429 11.71 Natallia Safronnikava BLR 28 Feb 73 Brest 31 May
532 11.76 Larisa Kruglova RUS 27 Oct 72 Moskva 21 Jun
744 11.87A Winnet Dube ZIM 10 May 72 Calgary 15 Jun
883 11.93 Poonam Tomar IND 15 May 70 Madurai 15 Jun
902 11.94 Patricia Girard FRA 8 Apr 68 Genève 31 May
1314 12.08 Yvette Henry GBR 8 Jun 73 London 10 May
Youngest athlete (13) on this list:
1300 12.08 Chris-Ann Gordon JAM 18 Sep 94 Kingston 14 Mar
-----
Masters on Men’s 100m World List
N=2623
List threshold=10.90
888 10.61 Derrick Archie USA 8 Jul 72 Rock Hill SC 28 Mar
1047 10.64 Micky Bar-Yeoshua ISR 14 Jul 71 Tel Aviv 17 May
1286 10.69 Henrik Olausson SWE 2 Apr 73 Västerås 3 Aug
1324 10.70A Ricardo Itacaramby BRA 1 Apr 68 Cochabamba 31 May
1580 10.75A Luis Vega COL 14 Jan 73 Provo UT 24 May
1694 10.77 Andrew Mensah GBR 30 Nov 71 Oordegem 26 Jul
1845 10.80 Willie Gault USA 5 Sep 60 Eagle Rock CA 10 May
2049 10.83 Florian Gamper GER 6 Aug 72 Weinheim 24 May
2341 10.87 Arben Makaj ALB 16 Jun 67 Donnas 1 Jun
2463 10.89 Dion Wharry USA 9 Nov 67 Fort Collins CO 29 Mar
Youngest athlete (14) on this list:
1087 10.65 Kevin Jones USA 7 Oct 93 Miami FL 17 Apr
-----
So Ottey is the oldest on the women's list, but only four months older
than Gault on the men's list. Masters women, though, rank far higher
than the men on this speed event. What else would be of interest:
power, endurance? Maybe the next posting should be a weight event.
