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91-year-old Italian woman Emma Maria Mazzenga speeds to age-group 200m world record

Emma Maria Mazzenga of Italy is etching her name in track and field history at the age of 91. Competing in the W90+ category at a Masters event in Veneto, Italy last weekend, she clocked an incredible 54.47 seconds for 200m indoors, shattering the world record by five seconds.

Mazzenga maintained an impressive speed of 13 km/hr for the 200m distance. Achieving such a feat is astounding, considering most would be content just to reach the age of 91, let alone set a new age group world record with a pace of 4:30/km. What adds to the awe of Mazzenga’s accomplishment is her incredible comeback. According to Vogue Italy, she started training just a month before her Jan 14 race, following a sternum fracture.

The former 200m indoor record for the W90+ category stood for 13 years and belonged to Canadian masters legend Olga Kotelko. Kotelko, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 95, held over 30 world records and won more than 750 gold medals in the masters competitions.

Mazzenga, a retired chemistry professor from northern Italy, only started competing masters races at the age of 53. Now, at 90, she continues to defy norms and set records. A video of her record-breaking run has gone viral on TikTok and Instagram.

Mazzenga told Vogue Italy that her secret to success is elegantly simple: she never stops. Each morning, Mazzenga takes a walk with her friend, interspersed with biking between her walks and runs. “The emotion that a race gives me, the adrenaline I get every training session, it brings energy to my days,” Mazzenga shared with Vogue Italy.

Despite setting a world record, Mazzenga remains humble and confident that she can achieve even faster times at her upcoming races at the Italian Masters Championships in Ancona, Italy, and the European championships in Torun, Poland, scheduled for March.