SACRAMENTO - Kathy Bergen set the world masters W70 high jump record Friday at the 2010 USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the A.G. Spanos Sports Complex on the campus of Sacramento State University in Sacramento, Calif. The event runs through Sunday.
Throughout the Championships, many of the world's best athletes ages 30-96 will demonstrate speed, power, skill and endurance, showing that age is no barrier to lifetime fitness and competition. The Spanos Sports Complex was the site of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials - Track & Field, and will play host to the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships, July 6-17.
Bergen's breakthrough
After setting the American W70 high jump record of 1.25m/4-1.25 in June, Kathy Bergen, who resides near Pasadena, Calif., tore a quadriceps muscle and didn't train for a month, and did not know how competitive she'd be this week in Sacramento.
Bergen's goal here was to break the listed W70 world record of 1.27m/4-2 set by Christiane Schmalbruch of Germany in 2007. Bergen not only set the record with her clearance of 1.28m/4-2.25, she broke it again when she soared to the current world record of 1.30m/4-3.25.
Bergen was especially pleased to set the record after overcoming her recent injury. "I'm healthy as a horse but I have little nagging soft tissue injuries," she said. "The older you get the more careful you have to be. I'm really pleased. It's a good day."
Bergen adds this performance to previous world records in the indoor 60m, 200m and high jump, in addition to her outdoor 100m world record and five world championship titles. Also this morning, Bergen won the W70 100m title in 15.88 seconds.
Sprinters torch the track in 100m finals
The very first final of the day produced the first record as the oldest person entered in the championships, 96-year old Leland McPhie of San Diego, won the M95 age group 100m in 37.16 seconds, which bettered the previous AR of 38.66 by Everett Hosack in 2000. McPhie owns world records in the M95 long jump, triple jump, shot put and high jump.
Elsewhere, Irene Obera posted an American record with her victory in the W75 100m in 16.26, which improved upon her listed AR of 16.67 from 2009.
Another day, another record for MacLeod
After setting the W75 world 400m record of 1:25.40 on Friday, Suzy MacLeod put another dent in the record books this afternoon with an American age group record in the 800 meters with her time of 3:25.73, which easily bettered her own pending AR of 3:35.22 from June 27 in Eugene, Ore.
In men's pole vault action, Charles Brown set an M55 American record with his clearance of 4.20m/13-9.25, which improved upon the previous standard of 4.13m/13-6.50 by Dennis Phillips from 2001. In addition, Tom Langenfeld set the M75 American high jump record by clearing 1.41m/4-7.50, which bettered the previous standard of 1.40m/4-7 by Richard Lowery in 2006.
Also on Saturday, Barbara Brandt threw an American W80 record in the javelin with her toss of 18.18m/59-7.75, which surpasses the previous AR of 17.89m/58-8 by all-time masters great Johnnye Valien from 2005. Brandt also owns the W75 AR of 20.91m/68-7 set in 2007.
For more information on the 2010 USA Masters Outdoor Championships, including the complete results, visit: www.usatf.org.
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