March 29, 2023
Toruń, Poland
On Day Four of the 9th World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships Team USATF had its largest daily haul of medals to date, with a total of 19 – 10 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze. The overall total now stands at 63. Team USATF Masters continues to third place on the medal table, with Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Italy, and Ireland close behind.
Team USATF Masters Gold Medalists today were:
Robert Qualls (Reno, NV) – M70 10k Road Race
Gloria Krug (New Oxford, PA) – W90 Javelin Throw
Durelle Schimek (Grass Valley, CA) – W55 Javelin Throw
Emma McGowan (Sugar Hill, GA) – W50 60m
Charles Allie (Pittsburgh, PA) – M75 60m
Michael Kish (Nutley, NJ) – M70 60m
Val Barnwell (Brooklyn, NY) – M65 60m
Allan Tissenbaum (Pittsburgh, PA) – M60 60m
Jeff Mack (Largo, FL) – M50 60m
Antoine Echols (Huntsville, AL) – M40 60m
Silver Medalists were:
April Lund (Bismarck, ND) – W40 10k Road Race
Easter Grant (Toney, AL) – W35 60m
India Bridgette (Marietta, GA) – W60 60m
Barbara Warren (Charleston, WV) – W75 Javelin Throw
Rondrick Parker (Hardeeville, SC) – M35 60m
Thomas Jones (Glenn Dale, MD) – M65 60m
Bronze Medalists were:
Andrea Collier (Orlando, FL) – W55 60m
David Gibbon (Cottonwood Heights, UT) – M55 60m
Russell Jacquet-Acea (Seattle, WA) – M70 Pentathlon
The sprint crew moved to the forefront today, capturing 13 of the 19 medals, including seven golds. The American men did particularly well, winning nearly every men’s age group from 40 to 75. In the M65 60m, Val Barnwell and Thomas Jones provided Team USATF’s first 1-2 sweep. Overall, Gloria Krug is the leading medal winner, with four golds in the W90 age group – discus, shot put, weight throw, and javelin throw. She still has the triple jump and hammer throw ahead of her the next two days.
Distance runners Robert Qualls and April Lund each have two individual medals (cross country and 10k road race), and Qualls also was part of a medal winning cross country team of M70 runners. Sprinter Emma McGowan is now two-thirds of the way to repeating her 60/200/400 trifecta from four years ago here in Toruń, having captured the 400 (in American W50 record time) and the 60.
W55 javelin thrower Durelle Schimek from Grass Valley, CA, continued her recent dominance of WMA javelin competitions that began in 2018 in Malaga outdoors and continued here in 2019 and last summer in Tampere outdoors with a gold medal in her specialty today.
Competition tomorrow includes 800m finals, 200m heats, several age groups in the pentathlon, and a variety of throwing and jumping events. The Championships runs all week, wrapping up on Saturday, April 1, 2023.
