Team USATF Masters Toruń Surges to Second Place Finish (Gold Medals) on the Medal Table at the WMA Indoor Championships; Set Eleven World and Nine American Records
On the final two days of the 8th World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, Team USATF Masters surged from fourth place on the gold medal table to finish in second position. This came despite having only the fifth largest contingent in the meet with 219 athletes entered, well behind host Poland (870), neighboring powerhouse Germany (475), and Great Britain and Northern Ireland (393). The final medal table shows Germany in the lead, followed by Team USATF, Poland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Spain:
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Germany | 100 | 79 | 83 | 262 |
| 2 | USA | 62 | 48 | 49 | 159 |
| 3 | Poland | 60 | 64 | 58 | 182 |
| 4 | Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 60 | 58 | 48 | 166 |
| 5 | Spain | 46 | 35 | 33 | 114 |
| 6 | France | 32 | 23 | 23 | 78 |
| 7 | Finland | 23 | 27 | 30 | 80 |
| 8 | Italy | 33 | 23 | 30 | 75 |
| 9 | Sweden | 25 | 12 | 16 | 43 |
| 10 | Latvia | 11 | 11 | 7 | 29 |
USATF Master Track and Field Chair Rex Harvey said at the conclusion of the meet:
I am incredibly proud of our athletes and what they accomplished here. I am even prouder that they honorably represented our country in the spirit of sportsmanship and friendly, if spirited, competition, with a total absence of chauvinism and gloating. They supported each other in many ways, most obviously with their presence in the stands cheering their teammates on throughout the entire meet. They did themselves and all of us proud!
Special thanks to our medical/physiotherapy team of Ena Weinstein, Marie Valdez, and Jeanine Valdez. They worked long hours every day helping our athletes be ready to do their best and earned the appreciation and respect of all. We were very fortunate to have them with us.
Several athletes turned in outstanding performances during the course of the seven days of competition, winning multiple medals:
- Irene Obera (W85, Fremont, CA) won eight medals, six of them gold; she set world records in the 60m, 60m hurdles, 200m, and as a member of the world record setting 4x200m relay
- Bill Jankovich (M85, Racine, WI) also won eight medals, two of them gold
- Flo Meiler (W80, Shelburne, VT) won seven medals, five of them gold, including one on the world record setting W80 4x200m relay team
- Gloria Krug (W85, New Oxford, PA) also won seven medals, three of them gold
- Neringa Jakstiene (W55, Memphis, TN) won six medals, four of them gold; she set three world records in the long jump, triple jump, and 60m hurdles
- Joy Upshaw (W55, Lafayette, CA) won five medals
- Charles Allie (M70, Pittsburgh, PA) won four medals, all of them gold, including world records in the 200m and 4x200m relay
- Emma McGowan (W50, Sugar Hill, GA), won four medals, all of them gold, including an American record in the 4x200m relay
- Heide Moebius (W80, Lancaster, PA) won four medals, three of them gold
- Rose Green (W80, Upper Marlboro, MD) won four medals, including a gold on the world record setting W80 4x200m relay team
- Roger Vergin (M80, The Villages, FL) won four medals, including one gold
- Ed Kent (M85, Meridian, ID) won four medals
- Thomas Jones (W65, Glenn Dale, MD) won three medals, all of them gold, including as a member of the world record setting M65 4x200m relay team
- Lynn Cooke (W60, Odessa, FL) won three medals, including one gold
- Carol Finsrud (W60, Lockhart, TX) won three medals, including two golds
- Tami Graf (W80, Luxby, MD) won three medals
- Easter Grant (W35, Toney, AL) won three medals
- Rachel Guest (W40, Surprise, AZ) won three medals, including two golds, one as a member of the American record setting W40 4x200m relay team
- Lesley Hinz (W60, Atlanta, GA) won three medals
- Carolyn Langenwalter (W80, Calvin, OK) won three medals, including one gold as a member of the world record setting W80 4x200m relay team
- Bob Lida (M80, Wichita, KS) won three medals, including two golds
- Marianne Martino (W65, Littleton, CO) won three medals
- Sue McDonald (W55, Santa Barbara, CA) won three medals
- Emil Pawlik (M80, Jackson, MS) won three medals
- David Pitts (M55, Imperial, MO) won three medals
- Roger Sayre (M70, Golden, CO) won three medals, including one gold
- Barbara Warren (W70, Charleston, WV) won three medals
- Lee Adkins (M45, Millbrae, CA) won two medals, including one gold
- Tamara Alegria-Dybvig (W60, Tucson, AZ) won two medals
- Larry Barnum (M75, Santa Rosa, CA) won two medals, including one gold
- Jose Cesteros (M85, Madrid, Spain) won two medals
- LaTrica Dendy (W45, Bronx, NY) won two medals, both of them gold, including one on the American record setting W45 4x200m relay team
- Kathleen Frable (W70, Ivins, UT) won two medals
- Sonja Friend-Uhl (W45, Boca Raton, FL) won two medals, one of them gold
- Dawn Grunnagle (W40, Dallas, TX) won two medals, both of them gold
- Rita Hanscom (W60, San Diego, CA) won two medals, one of them gold
- Sabra Harvey (W70, Houston, TX) won two medals, both of them gold, including a world record setting 800m
- George Haywood (M65, Washington, DC) won two medals, including one as a member of the world record setting M65 4x200m relay team
- Roman Marenin (M35, Highlands Ranch, CO) won two medals, both of them gold
- George Mathews (M75, Edmonds, WA) won two medals
- Cynthia Monteleone (W40, Lahaina, HI) won two medals, both of them gold, including as a member of the American record setting W40 4x200m relay team
- Antonio Palacios (M50, Bloomington, IN) won two medals, one of them gold
- Rondrick Parker (M35, Hardeeville, SC) won two medals
- Gary Patton (M70, Rock Springs, IA) won two medals
- Mack Stewart (M80, Fair Oaks Ranch, TX) won two medals
- Thaddeus Wilson, Sr. (W65, Oxnard, CA) won two medals, both of them gold, including as a member of the world record setting M65 4x200m relay team
Other individual gold medal winners were
- Fiona Bayly (W50, New York, NY) in the half marathon
- Damon Blakemore (M55, Houston, TX) in the pentathlon
- Howard Booth (M75, Gregory, MI) in the pole vault)
- Jim Sauers (M70, Dacula, GA) in the high jump
- Durelle Schimek (W50, Grass Valley, CA) in the javelin throw
- Doug Torbert (M65, Redlands, CA) in the shot put
- Alison Wood (W45, Aumsville, OR) with a world record in the high jump
This was, by far, the best showing by a US masters team at a WMA indoor or outdoor championships outside North America. 56 members of the team benefited from the World #1 Program designed to help get top performing athletes to the championships, and 52 of them brought home medals; three others were injured before completing their events.
