The overall performance of Team USATF Masters in Gothenburg at the WMA Outdoor Championships in August demonstrated the potential that the late Rex Harvey (MTF Chair at the time) touted back in 2018. He promoted the idea that the US Masters athletes were the best team in the world. But, he said, they had not been able to top the medal table at WMA Championships held in Europe because so many of the best athletes did not make the trip. As a result, Rex conceived what he dubbed the “World #1 Program” to rectify that by creating incentives and funding streams to get our best athletes to Europe-based WMA Championships. 2024 was the proof of Rex’s dream; unfortunately, he was no longer with us to witness the fruit of his concept. In Gothenburg, Team USATF Masters truly was World #1!
From the beginning of the meet in Gothenburg, Team USATF Masters topped the medal table, and by the last few days it was clear that none of the Europeans – not host Sweden (who finished fourth), Great Britain and Northern Ireland (third), or Germany (second) – would be able to catch up. Americans dominated the sprints (especially the M70 age group where we went 1-2-3 in the 100m and 1-2-3-4-8 in the 200m and set a World Record in the 4x100m relay), but also collected both expected and unexpected medals in just about every discipline. The strength and depth of the US team meant that it dominated the relays as well, particularly the 4x100m relays, where US teams took medals in 14 of the 19 relays entered, and another 11 medals in the 4x400m relays.
In the end the top end of the medal table looked like this:
In an interesting footnote to the medal table, of the 246 medals won by Team USATF Masters athletes, 138 (55.9%) were won by women while 109 (44.1%) were won by men – this despite the fact that the composition of the Team USATF athletes registered for the meet was 63% men and 37% women.
In Sacramento at the National Championships in July, where temperatures routinely topped 105o Fahrenheit, the competition was fierce. Some outstanding performances were turned in by Brian Tullis and Mark Williams in the M50 800m, where both of them broke Nolan Shaheed’s 24-year old World Record, going 1:58.07 and 1:58.45 respectively. Nolan, who was watching from the rail overlooking the finish, had run 1:58.65 in 2000. The race in Sacramento was epic from start to finish!
In Gothenburg, Williams and Tullis went at it again, with Spaniard Antonio Franco Raimondez also in the mix. Tullis again prevailed, dipping under 1:58 to finish in 1:57.98, for a new World Record. Williams was third, again under 1:59.
Distance runner extraordinaire Jeannie Rice (W75) took home six (6) gold medals from Gothenburg, most of them in Championship record times, in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 6000m cross country, 10k road race, and half marathon.
Note: This is excerpted from a column in the upcoming issue of National Masters News.
