Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Comparisons - past WMACi

Daegu WMACi was the 7th World Masters Indoor Championship.  Beginning in '04, these previous events were held every other year, hosted by Germany, Austria, Finland, France, Canada, and Hungary.

With the prolific registration of Koreans who were unqualified or didn't show, I was curious to see how my times compared with other WMACi Championships.   I did OK.

200m
My 200m time (24.82) would have medaled 5 of 6 previous championships.  Good enough for 2 Gold and 3 Silver.

400m
My 400m time (55.17) would have medaled in all 6 previous championships.  Good enough for 2 Gold, 2 Silver, and 2 Bronze.

Such comparisons are often greatly affected by one exceptional individual.  In this case, Bill Collins.  Without Bill, my 'Gold medal count' in these previous events would double.   Bill won every year by huge margins in all his events while in M55.   Definitely an outlier.

Conclusion - my times were average among the elite medal winners in these previous events.  Not exceptionally worse or better, including Bill Collins.   (Without Bill C., I'd be well above avg.)

There are outliers in every masters division, some so far above the competition, their records will likely stand for a long time, even a lifetime.   For example, Merlene Ottey's masters records.  Unlike other Olympian elites, she continued to race on an elite level into her 50s.  She was too good for masters.  She wanted to train and compete with the elite, so she moved from Jamaica to Slovenia where she could make their national team in her 40s and even 50s.   She won 9 Olympic medals and 6 World Championships - (not masters world championship, World championships).   There is no male comparable to Ottey.   I can't see anyone coming close to breaking her masters records, ever.  She finally retired a few yrs ago.

Willie Gault, to a lesser extent, fits this profile.   He rarely competes in masters events, not since the '11 World Championships.   Some say he doesn't because they started drug testing at Masters events after that.  Definitely a fast one, masters WR holder.


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