The World Masters Indoor Championships (also featuring outdoor throws, cross country and a road 10km and walks) was a huge success.
A good proportion of the world’s top masters athletes gathered in a mostly very sunny Florida and there was great competition in a very well organised and friendly atmosphere.
It had an excellent arena at the Alachua County Sports and Events Centre and apart from the absence of a proper warm up area (and outside the stadium it was often too hot) the facilities were excellent.
There was an outdoor area to warm up where the most notable thing was a lake beside the sprint straight which had a resident alligator!
Of course the Championships are not always the best masters athletes but the best that can afford to travel to it and some of the younger age groups are not always true world championships with many in these age brackets unable to travel around the world with work and young family commitments.
While some events are incredible standard (the V50-V60 events particularly) some are not.
For example, the 10km have team events and I found it it is possible to win a team medal despite running 23 minutes outside my PB with a bad knee due to other travelling nations not having sufficient athletes to complete a team, but it is one of the most satisfying medals I will ever get.
USA predictably topped the medal tables. The hosts always have an advantage and with the USA being the top athletics nation in the world it wasn’t surprising they picked up 185 golds and 557 medals with eight times as many athletes as their nearest rivals with 1457 competitors.
Britain with 181 participants got 42 golds and 93 medals which is a better ratio per athlete than the USA.
Germany (29 golds and 70 medals) and Canada (24 and 67) were the best of the rest.
It’s notable that some countries such as USA and Kenya reward their medal winning athletes with financial rewards and many nations at least give out national kit for free and the athletes get good support from their national bodies.
That certainly isn’t the case in the UK with British Athletics showing little interest in Masters Athletics though at least their head Jack Buckner did share some AW reports of the event.
Six of the seven 1500m champions
Most athletes spent many thousands on travel, hotel, entries and food.
While there was good support from abroad, due to the distance away and cost European numbers were down on normal but that was largely made up by the much higher number from North, Central and South America.
While I have been lucky enough to be paid to go to Olympics, World Championships, European Championships, World and European Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games one of my favourite athletics occasions is to be at a masters championships where you get a hour or so of one final after another from the oldest at M90 to the youngest at M35 and W35.
It’s the only time in the space of a few hours you can see seven British 1500m wins as happened on the masters equivalent of Super Saturday.
The competition is intense whatever the age groups but the amazement in seeing the speed of some of the older athletes is awe inspiring.
W60 4x200m winning team – Virginia Mitchell, Angela Bryant Alison Collins and Julie Hicken
Because the UK numbers were down on normal, there seemed to be an excellent and more cosy team atmosphere and much of that must go down to the superb team managers and physio staff.
Former world 1500m champion Dean Richardson and sprinter Stuart Lynn were always cheerful and athlete centred and provided a contrast from one of my earlier encounters back in 2001 in Australia with a team manager who put in a protest to try and disqualify a British team gold as an athlete had moved down an age group to strengthen a team without his say so while he was at a different venue!
British gold medallists
British middle distance runners were the best in the world in Florida even though they were missing two of the most frequent record setters in the last 12 months in Andrew Ridley and Rob McHarg.
An interested watcher was 1992 Olympic 800m champion William Tanui of Kenya who has children studying in England and he remarked how strong Britain were in the middle distances.
William Tanui with British athletes
Clare Elms, Sarah Roberts, Ellie Stevens, Dave Clarke Zoe Doyle, Mark Symes and Kojo Kyereme all pulled off at least doubles within the 800m, 1500m and 3000m categories with Roberts, Clarke and Roberts pulling off triples while Elms also won a gold at cross-country instead of focusing on the 800m while Roberts added a 400m title.
Courtesy of extra team golds, Elms was the most successful with six with her biggest challenge survived an early visa scare in being refused a flight by British Airways getting her date of birth wrong.
A same-day 10km and 1500m double (also achieved by Stevens) tested her endurance and she almost forsaked the 10km to attempt to improve her world record at 1500m as she felt the track was very fast after going close at 3000m.
Clare Elms with medals and miniature alligators
Roberts did set a W75 world record at 3000m and also bettered the W70 record too and was often faster than younger age groups and even the same M75 age group.
Britain were way down on their usual medal winning capacity in the sprints with the vast majority of big hitters staying away and they failed to win a single 60m or 200m gold which I can never previously recall.
The Heathrow fire also cost us a few medals with some missing their events.
Suzanne Wise gained a field gold double as did Dash Newington who won the W40 high jump and pole vault.
Suzanne Wise
Newington also picked up a W35 walks team gold and won medals in the pentathlon, triple and long jump and 4x200m for seven medals.
She was also fifth in her individual walk and seventh in the weight but didn’t find time or the practicality to compete in six events she entered (hurdles, 3000 walk, shot, discus, hammer and javelin) which was a considerable cost at $40 per entry!
6 Clare Elms (4 individual – W60 1500m, 3000m, 10km, 8km cross country) plus cross country and 10km team
4 Sarah Roberts (W75 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m)
4 Ellie Stevens (W40 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 10km)
3 Dave Clarke (M65 800m, 1500m, 3000m)
3 Sue McDonald (1 individual – 10km plus cross country and 10km team)
3 Dash Newington (2 individual – W40 high jump and pole vault plus W35 10km walk team)
2 Kojo Kyereme (M50 800m, 1500m)
2 Zoe Doyle (W45 800m, 1500m)
2 Mark Symes (M55 800m, 1500m)
2 Susan Payne (W65 3000m and 10km walk)
2 Richard White (M65 400m and 4×200)
2 Suzanne Wise (W35 Hammer and weight)
2 Fiona Usher no individual, team (W55 10km and cross country)
1 David Proctor (M35 3000)
1 Joe Appiah (M50 60H)
1 Allison Wilder (W35 TJ)
1 John Moreland (M65 DT)
1 Irie Hill (W55 PV)
1 Ron Cattle (M75 10km)
1 Clare Gratrix (W45 HJ)
1 Michael Hausler (M65 shot)
1 Andrea Jenkins (W45 hammer)
1 Paula Williams (W50 shot)
1 Steve Macauley (M50 SP)
1 Paul Ogun (M35 LJ)
1 W55 team XC (Elms, McDonald, Fiona Usher)
1 W55 team 10km (Elms, McDonald, Usher)
1 M60 4×200 (Wole Odele, Anthony Burniston, Pat Logan, Don Brown)
1 M65 4×200 (Phil Clayton, Adrian Day, White, Tennyson James)
1 W60 4×200 (Julie Hicken, Alison Collins, Angela Bryant, Virginia Mitchell)
1 W35 team walk (Aleksandra Najewska-Ani, Carolyn Derbyshire, Newington)
Kojo Kyereme leads the M50 1500m
World records
Winning golds take priority over record setting in a Championships and a number of athletes clearly in record breaking form settled for gold such as Kyereme, Clarke and Elms but there were still a number of records.
Jean-Louis Esnault was my pick of the athletes as he set world records in the 400m, 1500m and 3000m.
He also won gold at 200m, 800m, 60m hurdles but he was surprisingly beaten at the cross-country.
Men
1500m M85 Jean-Louis Esnault FRA 6:08.47
1500m M90 Radnaa Tseren MGL 7:55.12
200m M90 Radnaa Tseren MGL 37.12
3000m M50 Francis Bowen Kipkoech KEN 8:36.23
3000m M85 Jean-Louis Esnault FRA 13:39.24
3000W M50 Erick Maugo Sikuku KEN 12:34.20
400m M60 Roland Groger GER 55.35
400m M85 Jean-Louis Esnault FRA 77.69
60m M80 Kenton Brown USA 8.76
60H M70 Ward Hazen CAN 9.37
TJ M55 Salem Alahmadi KSA 13.66
Women
200m W65 Marie-Lande Mathieu PUR 29.40
200m W70 Wendy Alexis CAN 30.33
200m W80 Carol LaFayette-Boyd CAN 35.51
400m W50 Helen Hermundstad SWE 58.64
400m W55 Janelle Delaney AUS 59.66
400m W60 Edel Maguire IRL 66.94
3000m W70 Nora Cary USA 12:24.36
3000m W75 Sarah Roberts GBR 12:28.82
60H W90 Florence Meiler USA 23.62
HT W60 Claudine Cacaut FRA 47.19
HJ W90 Florence Meiler USA 0.90
LJ W60 Neringa Jakstiene USA 4.77
Pen W90 Florence Meiler USA 2531
WT W75 Myrle Mensey USA 16.82
Best races
It isn’t always just about gold medals and some of my favourite performances were non winning ones.
Chris Loudon won a M40 silver in the 800m silver besting his PB set in the heat.
Another championships debutante David Williams ran a superb brave race in the M60 1500m and held on for silver behind British-born Canadian Simon Rayner.
The former Hercules Wimbledon athlete also won gold for Canada in what I thought was the most exciting race of the championships the M60 800m where he got home by a hundredth of a second.
The best quality races were the M50 800m and 1500m both won by Kyereme.
In the 800m he just got round American Mark Williams in the straight.
In the 1500m he produced a stunning burst 300m out and was chased home by Ireland’s Conor Curran and Williams and Kenyan Francis Bowen Kipkoech who had set a world record 8:36.23 in the 3000m was out of the medals.
The most watched AW video of the Championships was M80 Michael Kiely’s 800m victory. That has chalked up over 280,000 views and even made an appearance on Good Morning Ireland. It almost didn’t happen as I almost got no footage as I was behind a very excited daughter who I could hardly ask to move!
It’s gold for Ireland at the World Masters Championships 🇮🇪
Michael Kiely wins the M80 800m title with 3:09.35 in Florida 🏃♂️ pic.twitter.com/26wMFNlNAQ
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 24, 2025
Ireland loved their successes and their winners such as Edel Maguire, Joe Gough (his videos always get great responses due to his incredible finish speed) and Eileen Kenny get far better national coverage than the UK ever provide.
Sadly there was no live feed of the events but it is hoped the next edition in two years in Daegu will get better coverage.
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