Julia ‘Hurricane’ Hawkins ran the 100-metre race at the USA Track and Field Outdoors Masters Championships (USATF) this week in a time of 40.2 seconds – six seconds faster than the previous world record for women aged over 100.
But it’s not even a personal best – earlier this month, the great-grandmother ran the same dash in 39.62 seconds at the National Senior Games in Alabama.
Compare this to 25-year-old Jamaican Elaine Thompson who won gold in the same event at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with a time of 10.71 seconds.
Going for gold
A former teacher, Ms Hawkins has always been a keen cyclist, but only took up track and field at the age of 100.
“I’m always outside and the phone always rings, and I come running in is how I knew I could run,” she said last month according to the Washington Post.
Provided her times are certified, her name will now be going down as the official world-record holder.
Hopefully that will make up for the lack of sleep – “[I] missed my nap for this,” she told USATF.
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