West Vancouver senior Christa Bortignon claimed six medals at the World Masters Athletics Championships held recently in Lyon, France.
Competing in the women’s 75+ age category, the 78-year-old claimed gold as the only competitor in the 80-metre and 200-m hurdles while winning silver in the 100-m and 200-m sprints and bronze in the long jump and triple jump.
Bortignon currently holds 13 age-group world records and is the only masters athlete, male or female, to hold the 100-m, 200-m and 400-m world records in the same age group at the same time.
Masters fans will get a chance to see her and thousands of other athletes up close this week at the North Vancouver-hosted 55+ BC Games running until Saturday. Track and field will be held at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Bortignon, who took up track and field at age 72 after reading about fellow West Vancouver super senior Olga Kotelko in the North Shore News, plans to compete in 10 events in the 55+ BC Games, including four sprints, two hurdles, all three jumps, discus and pentathlon.
Full schedules and results can be found at 55plusgames.ca.
