2018 World Masters in Málaga, Spain: Do I have a Chance?

The 2018 World Masters will be held in Málaga, Spain, most likely in September AFTER MY 55th BIRTHDAY.

I haven’t competed in a World Masters Championship since Riccione 2007 (at age 44).

This time, the Gods will be with me as I’ll just be entering a new age group, along with Allan Tissenbaum and James Chinn.

Do I even have a chance?  If I can get 3 solid years of training, and figure out why my damn Achilles keep flaring up, then yes, I’d like to line with with the rest of the world.

Just turning 55 is a good thing, as I’ve written about Masters attrition in past articles.  Maybe I should update this article?

But how strong will the competition be?

What will it take to get to the next round?

First of all, all Masters records look easy from far.  But when you reach that age group, they keep moving the performances further away!

I reckon I can run at least 27 and 58 seconds for 200m & 400m respectively at M55 if I can get a decent year of training with no injuries.  (1 full second attrition for 200m every 5 years, 2 full seconds attrition for 400m every 5 years)

How does that stack up?

Well, here is a quick recap of results from the WMA 2015 M55 division:

100m – 58 entries

• 13.09 24th qualifier to next round
• 12.48 8th qualifier (-1.6 to -2.3) to finals
• 12.05 – 12.25  medalists (-2.9) won by Allan Tissenbaum!

200m – 48 entries

• 26.70 24th qualifier to next round
• 25.28 8th qualifier to finals
• 24.54 – 25.08 medalists

400m – 51 entries

• 60.66 24th qualifier to next round
• 58.56 8th qualifier to finals
• 54.46 to 55.30 medalists (James Chinn was a finalist)

As you can see, these guys are good.  Go hard or go home.  I’ll be in for a big challenge.

As they say in Italy, in bocca al lupo.