Former Olympic champion breaks W65 10K world record

Portuguese distance runner and former Olympic marathon champion Rosa Mota is 65 and still setting world records. On Sunday at the San Silvestre de Amadora 10K in Lisbon, Mota broke the W65+ 10K world record, clocking a ridiculous sub-40-minute time in Lisbon and beating her previous age-group record by 37 seconds.

Rosa Mota finaliza la San Silvestre de Amadora en un tiempo de 39 minutos y 40 segundos con 65 años de edad, batiendo el récord mundial de 10 kilómetros de su categoría por 2 minutos y el récord mundial de 5 kilómetros de su categoría por 10 segundos con 19 minutos y 58 segundos. pic.twitter.com/6hAKmVhtDA

— EL NEGOCIO DEL RUNNING (@Asb71atleta) January 4, 2024

Mota won her age category with a record time of 39 minutes and 40 seconds, surpassing her mark of 40:17 from October 2023. Her time was so outstanding that she even finished in the top 15 in the women’s general classification. Mota used her experience to her advantage, perfectly executing a negative split, coming through the first 5K in 19:58 and closing in 19:42.

This age-group world record is just another accomplishment on Mota’s career resume, which features two Olympic marathon medals, three Boston Marathon titles and one world championship title. She won her Olympic medals in 1984 in Los Angeles (bronze) and 1988 in Seoul (gold).

Mota was one of the most dominant marathon runners in the 1980s and 1990s, winning 14 of her 21 marathon races—numbers reminiscent of Kipchoge’s dominance. She has held the Portuguese national record of 2:23:29 in the marathon for nearly 40 years. She ran her personal best in 1985 at the Chicago Marathon, where she finished third.

With multiple masters world records to her name, including the W65+ 15K, 20K and half-marathon records, Mota has been touted as one of the greatest female marathon runners of all time.