West Vancouver super senior Christa Bortignon has begun her assault on the record books for a new age group in masters track and field.
Bortignon, who already holds multiple age-group world records, competed for the first time in the women’s 85+ age group Feb. 25-27 at the BC Masters Indoor Championships, and proceeded set four indoor world records and two Canadian indoor records.
In the 60-metre dash, Bortignon clocked a time of 11.18 seconds, beating the old indoor record of 12.28. She showed her sprinting prowess again in the 200-m dash, with her time of 42.09 beating the old record of 44.18.
Bortignon also landed some new records in the jump pit, setting world marks in both long jump and triple jump. Her long jump of 2.70 m smashed the old indoor record of 2.04 m, while her triple jump of 6.35 m beat the old record of 5.15 m.
Bortignon also set a national record in the shot put, with her distance of 6.49 m beating the old Canadian indoor record of 6.14 m. She also helped a 4x200-m relay team set a new national indoor record in the W70 age group, the foursome clocking a time of 2:49.26 to top the old record of 3:04.74.
Bortignon currently holds multiple indoor and outdoor world records in the W75 and W80 age groups. The West Vancouver 85-year-old started competing in track and field in 2009 and age 72. She was named the World Female Masters Athlete of the Year in 2013, and in 2021 was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Huntsman World Senior Games, a major masters event held annually in St. George, Utah.
