GAINESVILLE – More than 1400 athletes joined together to represent Team USATF at the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Florida at the state-of-the-art Alachua County Sports and Events Center. Masters athletes competed against 3,700 athletes from 97 nations in a show of dedication and longevity. In total, U.S. athletes won 557 medals – 185 gold, 190 silver, and 182 bronze – set 21 world age-division records, and dozens of American age-division records.
Across the eight day competition, one athlete stood out above the rest – Florence Meiler, competing in the W90 division – set a whopping four age-division world records, with her success starting on day one and going through the final day of competition.
Meiler kicked off a dominant showing with three W90 world records on day one during the pentathlon. Her first event of the Championships set the tone for the competition as she sprinted to a 23.62 60H win for 490 points toward her pentathlon standings. Her mark was the first by a woman in the 90-94 division, therefore establishing a W90 world record in the event.
She went on to clear .90m to earn 806 points towards her pentathlon total and better the existing age-division world record by three centimeters. The previous record, which stood at .87m, was set by U.S. teammate Christel Donley in Colorado Springs earlier this year.
Propelled by her pair of world records, Meiler racked up a whopping 2531 points to shatter the previous W90 world record of 1074, which was set by Canada’s Olga Kotelko in 2012. Meiler now holds the world record in both the W85 and W90 division.
The work wasn’t done for Meiler following her pentathlon prowess. She capped competition with two more individual event world records, first with a W90 pole vault world record, clearing 1.37m to establish the first age-division world record in the event. With that performance, she now holds the WMA records in the 75, 80, 85, and 90 divisions. Meiler also jumped 4.50m in the triple jump for a W90 world record, bettering the previous mark of 4.14m set by Canada’s Olga Kotelko in 2010. Christel Donley also bettered that previous world record with her second-place leap of 4.18m.
On the first day of competition, Neringa Jakstiene matched her own W60 world record, set last year at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Chicago, with a 4.74m leap in the pentathlon long jump. She went on to better that mark on day five with a 4.77m jump, tacking three centimeters onto her previous best to establish a new world record and win her age division by three quarters of a meter.
In February, at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Kenton Brown clocked an 8.88 in the M80 60 to match the world record set in 2005 by compatriot Melvin Larsen. He had his sights set on a solo record, and came out victorious as he knocked .12 off of the previous record with his 8.76 win.
Nora Cary added to the success on the track as she shattered the W70 world record in the 3000. Cary clocked a 12.24.36 to beat the field nearly two minutes on her way to the world record. The previous record of 12:30.48 was set by USA’s Kathryn Martin in 2023.
In the W75 weight throw, Myrle Mensey bettered her own world record. Mensey launched a 16.82m heave with the four kilogram weight to tack 23 centimeters onto her existing record, set in Indianapolis in 2024. Mensey’s throw was the only throw above 16 meters and was the furthest in the field by more than two and a half meters. Mensey now holds the world records in the 65, 70, and 75 divisions.
The final day of competition saw a slew of relay records for Team USATF. In the M55 division, a team of Norris Hanes, Timothy Roland, Derek Pye, and David Henry clocked a 1:37.63 to better the previous record of 1:37.87 set by a U.S. team in 2024. Their time beat runner-up Canada by more than seven seconds.
The Championships included an inaugural mixed 4×200, therefore world records would be established in each age division. Team USATF picked up wins and established world records in 10 age divisions:
35: Rasheta Butler, Trey Orchard, Edouard Ndecky, Ethan Mignard – 1:36.71
40: Easter Grant, Amanda O’Connor, Keith Major, Antoine Echols – 1:35.25
45: Sandra Halvatzis, Amanda Roberts, Michael Blunt, Jassiel Torres – 1:38.58
50: Christina Yarmul, Allison Murphy, Rawle DeLisle, Peter Haack – 1:44.64
55: Emmanuelle McGowan, Andrea Collier, Greg Cook, Lee Bridges – 1:48.14
60: Sue McDonald, Shemayne Williams, Francois Boda, John Campbell – 1:52.82
65: Karen Maxwell, Elizabeth Deak, Willie Spruill, Brent Cottong – 2:01.53
70: Gail Johns-Rees, Claudia Simpson, Thomas Jones, Ron Stevens – 2:06.61
75: Joan McMullan, Mary Hartzler, Roger Parnell, N.Z. Bryant Jr – 2:27.98
80: Mary Robinson, Willy Moolenaar, William Keesling, Roger Pierce – 3:04.07
A full list of results from the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships can be found here.
