Britain wins 99 medals at World Masters Championships in Daegu - Athletics Weekly
Athletics Weekly · Athletics Weekly · 2026-09-05T09:48:27+00:00 · nguồn gốc
Wins for stalwarts John Wright, Sarah Roberts, Anthony Treacher and Steve Allen headlined a strong finish to the two-week championships in Daegu, as Britain narrowly missed out on top European nation to Germany.
Below is the coverage from the. final three days – September 1-3 – with our earlier reports here and here.
At a hot and humid Daegu, Britain concluded a highly successful campaign over the final few days of the two-week championships with more wins for multiple champions such as John Wright, Sarah Roberts, Anthony Treacher and Steve Allen, Steve Smythe reports.
However, despite a number of regular previous champions being absent or injured, Britain just missed out on being the leading European nation, with Germany's 43 golds, 27 silvers and 31 bronzes narrowly topping Britain's respective 42, 35 and 22.
USA was easily the top nation with 95 golds, 64 silvers and 67 bronzes, with Australia (58, 66, 48) and Japan (53, 53, 52) making the most of its rare geographical advantage to complete the top three.
The next five countries were European, with Germany and Britain heading Poland, Spain and France, and hosts Korea and Thailand completing the top 10.
M65 100m world record-holder John Wright missed the 200m and 4x100m relay through injury but returned to win the 400m in 57.71.
The 300m hurdles champion and world indoor champion Richard White followed him home as Britain just missed out on a medal clean sweep.
However, Wright was able to run in the final day's 4x400m and he produced one of the greatest masters relay legs in history.
With White and individual fourth-placer Stuart Lynn leading off, Britain was four seconds clear at halfway, but Japan went eight seconds ahead of Adrian Essex on the third leg. Wright, still nursing a hamstring problem, was around five seconds adrift at halfway, but a stunning finish saw him pip the Japanese with his final stride by just nine hundredths of a second in 4:10.58.
Wright, now 67 years old, completed his leg in 55.5 seconds compared to the outdoor M65 world record of 56.09.
He holds the outdoor M60 world 100m and 200m records but ran a world record 54.92 for the indoor 400m in winning the European Indoor title in March when he was at his fittest.
Usually there is huge competition for places in the relays, but with less travelling to Korea than normal, most age groups were unable to field a team, and Britain's only other medal at the event came in the M60 race, where 800m and 1500m champion Rob McHarg anchored them home to silvers behind USA.
The 2022 and 2024 M50 champion Joe Appiah improved his M55 100m hurdles championship record of 14.53 in his semi to 14.28 in the final to win yet another major title. American Brian Bombei pushed him to the final barrier and bettered the previous record in second.
Mensah Elliott is another with multiple hurdles titles, and though he moved into the M50 category while in Korea, he had to compete in the M45s over 110m hurdles, and 24 years after competing in the Commonwealth Games for England, he narrowly won in 14.74. He also won this title in 2022 and 2024.
Following golds at 10km, 800m and 5000m, Sarah Roberts won the W75 1500m by 35 seconds in a time quicker than the W70 winner.
She just lost out at the next day's 400m, though, in an exciting finish, to win her second silver following the 200m. Her track exploits meant she had to withdraw from the cross-country, and unlike previous recent championships she had no team-mates to help her win any relay or team medals. She was still Britain's most bemedalled athlete, however.
Anthony Treacher was another to add to his gold collection as he won the M85 400m in 95.12 for his third gold.
M70's Steve Allen claimed his third walking gold, winning the 5000m track race by over a minute.
Allan Leiper dominated the M65 throws pentathlon. He had the best marks in the hammer, shot and javelin and won by 142 points.
Though usual vaulting champion Irie Hill was absent, W40's Dash Newington and W70's Sue Yeomans won pole vault golds.
The W60 400m saw a close finish as 100m champion Iris Opitz made up 10 metres on 800m champion Virginia Mitchell to surprise her late on the line, 64.78 to 64.87.
It was a huge improvement for the German, who was a close second in the 200m, and she went on to win the W55 4x400m gold the following day.
Mark Wyndham-Jones built up a big lead in the M75 throws pentathlon with the best results in the shot, discus and javelin, but Waclaw Krankowski beat him by four metres and 261 points in the final weight throw to gain Polish gold.
German Ralf Mordhorst won the M50 throws pentathlon with a world record tally of 3801 points.
Japan's Takahiro Sato won the M50 5000m walk in a world record 20:57.13.
Saudi Ismail Al-Sabani, a 45.74 performer, set a championships record of 46.97 in the M35 400m, the fastest one lap in World Masters Championships history for any age group.
Ireland's Edel Maguire set a European and championships record of 67.78 in the W65 400m after previously winning the high jump and medalling in both short sprints.
Kenyan Florence Chepsoi, who served a two-year drug ban in 2016 and had a 2:29:25 marathon PB, won the 5000m and 8km cross-country.
The same double was achieved by 2:08:01 marathoner Francis Bowen Kipkoech, who won M50 golds.
Britain, with small representation, won six minor medals on the country.
Selected Results: September 1-3
M35:
400: 1 I Al-Sabani (KSA) 46.97; 5 CRAIG COX 49.85
110H (1.1): 1 J Louis (USA) 13.78
HJ: 5 LLOYD POWELL 1.80
M40:
110H (1.2): 5 MICHAEL LOUISE 15.33
4x400: 1 USA 3:24.69; 5 GBR 3:53.28
M45:
110H (1.8): 1 MENSAH ELLIOTT 14.74; 2 H Fukuda (JPN) 14.82
M55:
400: 1 M Musial (POL) 54.21; 4 STEVE BALDOCK 56.85
100H (-1.0): 1 JOE APPIAH 14.29; 2 B Bombei (USA) 14.44
M60:
400: 1 T Munnings (BAH) 56.24; 4 ADRIAN JAMES 57.70
100H (0.0): 1 Y Maefa (JPN) 14.78; 2 BARRIE MARSDEN 14.87
4x400: 1 USA 3:52.22; 2 GBR 4:00.19
M65:
400: 1 JOHN WRIGHT 57.71; 2 RICHARD WHITE 60.07; 4 STUART LYNN 61.71
1500: 1 A Grendon (RSA) 4:45.20; 2 DAVE CLARKE 4:46.29
Wt Pen: 1 ALLAN LEIPER 3908; 4 RAY BACON 3180
4x400: 1 GBR 4:10.58; 2 JPN 4:10.69
M70:
400: 1 G Zorn (GER) 59.07
5000W: 1 STEVE ALLEN 31:27.27
M75:
400: 3 DAVID HINDS 70.83
1500: 1 J Bermingham (AUS) 5:24.81
5000W: 3 IAN RICHARDS 32:16.49
Throws P: 1 W Krankowski (POL) 3924; 2 MARK WYNDHAM-JONES 3741
M80:
400: 1 R Paesani (ITA) 71.01
M85:
400: 1 ANTHONY TREACHER 95.12
Throws P: 1 C Roszczak (POL) 3888
M90:
400: 1 R Tseren (MGL) 1:40.46; 3 COLIN SPIVEY 1:54.70
1500: 1 Tseren 8:55.91; 2 Spivey 9:00.91
Women
W35:
LJ: 4 ALISON WILDER 5.02/-0.3
W40:
PV: 1 DASH NEWINGTON 3.60
LJ: 1 B Puiu (ROU) 5.82/0.8
W60:
400: 1 I Opitz (GER) 64.78; 2 VIRGINIA MITCHELL 64.87
Wt Pen: 1 H Knobel (RSA) 4199
W65:
400: 1 E Maguire (IRL) 67.79; 2 JANICE ELLACOTT 72.45; 5 CATH WHEELER 74.97
W70:
400: 1 S Montecinos (CHI) 69.59
PV: 1 SUE YEOMANS 2.10
W75:
400: 1 P Quintana (ESP) 85.33; 2 SARAH ROBERTS 86.34
1500: 1 ROBERTS 6:46.49
Cross-Country
Men (8km): 1 H Sboui (TUN, M40) 26:29
M50-55 (8km): 1 F Bowen (KEN) 26:52; 3 BRIAN WILDER 27:21
M60+ (8km): 1 J Meagher (AUS) 29:31
M60 TEAM: 3 GBR 2:08:17
M70 (6km): 1 L Heyde (BEL) 24:52
M80 (6km): 1 G Ostwald (USA) 27:34
Women (8km): 1 F Chepsoi (KEN, W40) 29:00
W40: 2 REBECCA LUXTON 30:46
W50: 1 S Host (BEL) 29:44
W55+ Women (8km): 1 S Gibbs (NZL, W60) 32:24
W60: 2 FIONA USHER 34:57
W65: 1 E Pedrosa (ESP) 36:57; 2 GWEN KINLOCH 37:47
W60 TEAM: 1 THA 1:59:36; 2 GBR 2:10:26
W75 (6km): 1 J Rice (USA) 31:12