INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Hundreds of Team USATF masters track and field athletes have continued to impress in Tampere, Finland as they wrapped up days eight and nine of competition at the World Masters Athletics Championships. Team USATF soared to new heights on day eight as they surpassed 100 medals and took the tally to 109. They continued to dominate on day nine, taking the medal table to 137 with a whopping 28 - the most from Team USATF in a single day thus far. Lynne Hurrell (W85) and Nat Larson (M60) started the eighth day of competition off strong as they secured both titles in the 1500m. Hurrell powered to a finishing time of 10:58.77 to secure her fourth gold medal of the meet, with previous wins in the 800m, javelin, and cross country. Larson powered home to edge out Great Britain’s David Clarke in a nail-biter finish, crossing in 4:32.21 to Clarke’s 4:32.64. Tami Graf (W85) continued her own impressive showing as she leapt .86m to win the high jump. With that Graff adds a fourth gold medal to her trophy shelf alongside wins in the 200m hurdles, 5000m, and heptathlon. Joyce Flynn (W75) also topped the podium in the high jump when she cleared 1.06m on her first attempt to just squeak past Finland’s Jingle Rowan, who also cleared 1.06m, but needed three attempts to do so. Scott Eriksson (M60) wrapped up day eight with a huge throw of 57.26m to win the discus by over five meters, over Finland’s Pekka Jaakkola’s silver-medal throw of 52.21m. Gloria Krug (W90) once again took command of the throws as she raked in her sixth gold of the competition with a throws pentathlon win of 3,733 points, effectively sweeping all six throwing events in her age division. Six medals of day nine came in the 10k road race - two of which were gold. Justin Freeman (M45) took his age division win in 31:41, holding off Germany’s Thomas Kotissek who finished second in 32:07. Christine Kennedy (W65) left no room for doubt as she handily won her age division in 44:04 over a 45:58 by Finland’s Seija Nurmi. Joseph Greenberg (M70) and John Daniel (M70) topped the podium with gold and silver finishes in the javelin. Greenburg’s 47.67m toss topped an impressive series in which all legal attempts were far enough to win the competition. Daniel’s best throw of 43.62m came in the first round and kept him a meter ahead of the field. Capping off day nine was a pair of golds in the 400m in Lynne Hurrell (W85) and Lee Bridges (M55). Hurrell made a trip around the oval to take gold in 2:20.75 in her age division while Bridges covered the distance in 52.58 for another win. Team USATF’s masters athletes will look to add to an impressive medal tally over the final days of competition in Tampere.
A full list of results can be found here. Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #USATF.