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95-Year-Old Smashes 200m World Record: ‘Bodies Can Be Rebuilt at Any Age’

35 points by phodo 11y ago

Hnrobert42 11y ago
Awesome! For reference, the current 200m men's indoor has only improved 1.41 seconds in the last 64 years (from 20.6 to 19.190).
- tassl 11y ago
  Just to be precise, while his feat is incredible, you can't really make this correlation with the WR in 200m (any age), and even less use the absolute difference. The main reason is that the pool of people able to participate is way smaller as age increases. Also, you are using outdoor times as a reference (the best time for indoor 200m is 19.92, Frankie Fredericks). Frankie Fredericks is the only person that ran 200m indoors under 20 seconds. And I am extremely impressed by the feat that this man just did; most people would be happy to just reach 95; and those that do reach 95, being able to walk.
trothamel 11y ago
Note that this is the record "for his age group", as opposed to an absolute world record.
reddytowns 11y ago
Misleading.. The record he broke is "for his age group", which isn't even specified in the article.
- wingerlang 11y ago
  > A 95-year-old former dentist has set a new world record for his age group in the 200-meter indoor sprint, knocking a massive 2.4 seconds off the previous record… It is in the first line of the article.
  - benjoffe 11y ago
    I believe the parent is referreing to the fact that the specific age range is not specified. Eg. is this 90-99 (my guess), 70+ or "exactly 95", etc.
    - aninhumer 11y ago
      A caption on the video says it's the over-95 age group.
nasmorn 11y ago
I am a somewhat serious runner and I started to not only compare myself to the World Records as in I can do 70% of the WR for 400m but also to the age groups. It is fascinating that I cannot beat any under 70 record at all although I am very fit compared to the general population. So while old age is definitely a decline the achievable levels are still quite impressive. World records for 60 year old men are so good they might as well be the real WR for me
biot 11y ago
Is there a video of his run? EDIT: Well that's embarrassing... I didn't see the video the first time I checked on my phone, but looking again there are a few videos in plain sight. Mea culpa.
- Cookingboy 11y ago
  It's literally in the article linked...
omonra 11y ago
Well done for this guy, but the headline seems somewhat redundant. Only someone who is older than 95 can break the record for the 95 and over age group. Ie that's like saying '2-legged man broke an Olympic record for X'.
deleted 11y ago
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35 points by phodo 11y ago

Awesome! For reference, the current 200m men's indoor has only improved 1.41 seconds in the last 64 years (from 20.6 to 19.190).

tassl 11y ago
Just to be precise, while his feat is incredible, you can't really make this correlation with the WR in 200m (any age), and even less use the absolute difference. The main reason is that the pool of people able to participate is way smaller as age increases. Also, you are using outdoor times as a reference (the best time for indoor 200m is 19.92, Frankie Fredericks). Frankie Fredericks is the only person that ran 200m indoors under 20 seconds. And I am extremely impressed by the feat that this man just did; most people would be happy to just reach 95; and those that do reach 95, being able to walk.

trothamel 11y ago

Note that this is the record "for his age group", as opposed to an absolute world record.

reddytowns 11y ago

Misleading.. The record he broke is "for his age group", which isn't even specified in the article.

wingerlang 11y ago
> A 95-year-old former dentist has set a new world record for his age group in the 200-meter indoor sprint, knocking a massive 2.4 seconds off the previous record… It is in the first line of the article.
- benjoffe 11y ago
  I believe the parent is referreing to the fact that the specific age range is not specified. Eg. is this 90-99 (my guess), 70+ or "exactly 95", etc.
  - aninhumer 11y ago
    A caption on the video says it's the over-95 age group.

nasmorn 11y ago

I am a somewhat serious runner and I started to not only compare myself to the World Records as in I can do 70% of the WR for 400m but also to the age groups. It is fascinating that I cannot beat any under 70 record at all although I am very fit compared to the general population. So while old age is definitely a decline the achievable levels are still quite impressive. World records for 60 year old men are so good they might as well be the real WR for me

biot 11y ago

Is there a video of his run? EDIT: Well that's embarrassing... I didn't see the video the first time I checked on my phone, but looking again there are a few videos in plain sight. Mea culpa.

Cookingboy 11y ago
It's literally in the article linked...

omonra 11y ago

Well done for this guy, but the headline seems somewhat redundant. Only someone who is older than 95 can break the record for the 95 and over age group. Ie that's like saying '2-legged man broke an Olympic record for X'.

deleted 11y ago

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