My first experience of a World Masters Championship’s was in Torun in March 2023. This would see me compete in three events, the M60 400m, M60 200m, and the x60 4x200m mixed relay.
My goals going into the championships were to qualify for the semi finals of the 400m and 200m. Whilst this may not sound very ambitious, I felt it to be realistic as most of the top M60 sprinters in the world would be competing at the championships, and on paper I was ranked 18th fastest for the 400m and 24th fastest for the 200m.
A total of 49 athletes had registered for the 400m albeit after final registration, 36 of us would compete for a place in one of three semi finals of 6 athletes, 18 places in total. The night before the race the number of semi finals was reduced to two, which meant the 36 of us would be running for just 12 places. I did my homework on the field and estimated what I would need to run to make the top 12. I would need to run a new indoor PB time of around 61s, and I was confident that I could do this as my training had been going very well. The next morning the pressure was eased when they reverted to three semi finals but nevertheless a good time was still required. I raced in heat three and ended up clocking a new indoor PB and qualifying with a time of 61.13, the 10th fastest qualifying time overall:
I was delighted to progress to the semi final and to run a new indoor PB. The semi finals were the next day which in hindsight was a bitter sweet experience.
In what I can only put down to lack of experience competing at this level, and whist having meticulously prepared fore the heats, I didn’t properly prepare for the semi final. I’d achieved my goal of reaching the semi final, and beating my 18th place seeding before the championships by 8 places to finish in 10th place overall. Basically I didn’t expect or plan to get into the final, which was a mistake
Despite running another new indoor PB 0f 60,4s in the second semi final, I feel I could have run much faster. I was feeling great after the first 200m but instead of executing the race strategy of ramping up the effort over the last 200m and then full tilt over the last 100m, instead I sat in behind the Polish athlete in 3rd place. I’ve gone over this a dozen times and I’m not sure why I did this, I can only put it down to a lack of experience, rather than belief in my own abilities. I had a great opportunity to make the final, but I didn’t take it:
The 200m
My objectives for the 200m were twofold, I wanted to make the semi finals, and I also wanted to make the mens 4x200m relay team by positing the 4th fastest GBR athlete time this year.
This time a total of 65 athletes had registered for the 200m albeit after final registration, 54 of us would compete for a place in one of three semi finals of 6 athletes, 18 places in total. Again I did my homework on the field and estimated what I would need to run to make the top 12. I would need to run a new indoor PB time of around 26.x seconds. I raced in heat three and ended up clocking a new indoor PB and qualifying with a time of 26.79, again the 10th fastest qualifying time overall, beating my pre championship seeding of 24th by 14 places. It could have been faster as I lost time at the start and again when coming off the final bend when I almost crashed into the boards at the side of the track. This was good enough to get me into the semi finals but I missed out on the relay team (that subsequently went on to win gold) to my friend Peter Ilo by just 4/100ths of a second.
However, every cloud has a silver lining and I was first reserve for the team and first choice for the mixed 4×200 relay team, and we went on to win silver (see below) and my first World Championship podium experience.
200m Semi Final
The 200m semi final was definitely as far as I could progress as the quality of the field was immense. It was always going to be a tricky race from Lane 3 and I didn’t help myself by getting off to a terrible start, losing ground on the whole field over he first 150m. However, I never quit and and finished strong to make up most of the ground I lost, finishing the race in 4th place and 10th place overall in the competition.
I also took a tumble after crossing the line when myself and USA athlete Robert Foster made contact. Thankfully it was a soft landing and no lasting damage was done. On a positive note I managed to get my revenge on Robert who had beaten me the day before by edging him in the semi final by 2/100ths of a second.
4x200m Mixed Relay
“Teamwork makes the dream work“
The silver lining I mentioned earlier was being selected to run as part of the GBR 4x200m mixed relay team. The team was assembled the day before and the two ladies were Christine Anthony and Janice Pryce, and the two men Paul Guest and myself. Christine is an accomplished middle distance athlete who did very well and finished just outside the medals in her personal disciplines of 400, 800 and 1500m. Janice is an accomplished triple jumper (with hidden talents as a sprinter) who also had a good championships again finishing just outside the medals. Paul is the reigning European Indoors 200m Champion competing in his first competition back from a horrific jumping injury that would have ended the career of many less determined athletes.
Paul and myself were well aquatinted already and we met the ladies face to face for the first time just an hour before the race, which gave us just enough time to agree the running order and practice some baton changes.
Paul led us off to a tremendous start, getting the baton round just ahead of Robert Foster from the USA. Paul handed the baton to Christine who ran a great leg against India Bridgette the bronze medalist from the individual event. Christine then handed over to Janice who took off like a rocket and held her own against another individual 200m finalist Shemayne Williams from the USA. Janice then handed over to myself for the last leg against William Yelverton of the USA. William anchored the USA team to the gold medal and I was delighted to anchor the GBR home for the silver ahead of Germany who took bronze.
Stuart Lynn - Masters Athlete 