90-plus-year-old men set 3 world relay records at USATF Masters

By Nick ZaccardiJul 21, 2014, 10:43 AM EDT

Four men at least 90 years old composed a relay team for the first time in history to set three world records at the USA Track and Field Masters Outdoor Championships on Sunday.

Champion Goldy Sr., 97, Orville Rogers, 96, Roy Englert, 92, and Charles Ross, 91, ran a 4x100m relay in 2 minutes, 22.37 seconds at the Winston-Salem, N.C., meet. Charles Boyle, 91, stepped in for Goldy in the 4x400m and the 4x800m, where they ran 12:41.69 and 28:17.10, respectively, according to USA Track and Field. (Ages for Boyle and Englert are different on the results pages, 90 and 91, respectively).

“The crowd rose to its feet with applause and cheers,” and the end of their 4x400m, the final track event of the meet, USATF wrote in a press release.

Here’s video of their 4x100m.

https://twitter.com/chrisnickinson/status/490921816831950848/

Features have been written on all of the runners.

Goldy was a Methodist minister who began his track career in his 70s and said his goal was to run the 100m when he was 100, according to the Edmonton Journal in 2005.

“When I get up in the morning and look at the obituaries and don’t find my name there, that’s good.”

Rogers set six Masters world records over three days last year, 11 months after suffering a stroke, according to USATF.

“I went skydiving after my 90th birthday. I wanted to go solo, but I think the instructor was afraid of my age, so I had to go dual.” Rogers said laughing.

Englert began running in his basement for exercise at age 50 and didn’t compete until his 60s, according to the Washington Post in 2009.

Englert was born in Nashville in 1922, participated with the Navy in the D-Day invasion at Normandy during World War II, went to Columbia Law School, worked for the Treasury Department and retired in 1996.

…

“The most frustrating thing is I get slower every year and I really don’t know why,” he said, smiling. “I train all the time.”

Ross fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War and is in the Army Ranger Hall of Fame, according to MastersTrack.com.

Boyle spent 32 years at NASA and has written a space adventure novel and a children’s picture book, according to WALK! magazine in 2007.

Former NFL All-Pro WR enters USATF Masters

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Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz set French Open semifinal showdown

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 6:59 PM EDT

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will play in the French Open semifinals on Friday in the most anticipated match of the tournament.

Each man advanced with a quarterfinal win on Tuesday.

Djokovic, eyeing a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title, rallied past 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4. The Serb reached his 45th career major semifinal, one shy of Roger Federer‘s men’s record.

Later Tuesday, top seed Alcaraz crushed fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to consolidate his status as the favorite in Friday’s showdown.

“This match, everyone wants to watch,” Alcaraz said. “I really wanted to play this match as well. I always say that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Alcaraz, who at last year’s U.S. Open became the first male teen to win a major since Rafael Nadal in 2005, is at this event the youngest man to be the top seed at a major since Boris Becker at 1987 Wimbledon.

The Djokovic-Alcaraz semifinal will produce the clear favorite for Sunday’s final given left-handed 14-time French Open champion Nadal is out this year with a hip injury and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev lost in the first round. Djokovic and Nadal share the record 22 men’s major titles.

Djokovic and Alcaraz met once, with Alcaraz winning last year on clay in Madrid 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5).

“[Alcaraz] brings a lot of intensity on the court,” Djokovic said, before breaking into a smile. “Reminds me of someone from his country that plays with a left hand.”

Alcaraz and Djokovic were set to be on opposite halves of the draw — and thus not able to meet until the final — until Medvedev won the last top-level clay event before the French Open to move ahead of Djokovic in the rankings. That meant Djokovic had a 50 percent chance to wind up in Alcaraz’s half, and that’s what the random draw spit out two weeks ago.

Earlier Tuesday in the first two women’s quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova advanced to face off in Thursday’s semifinals.

Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, swept Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 to complete her set of semifinals in all four Grand Slams. Sabalenka will take the No. 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek if Swiatek loses before the final, or if Sabalenka makes the final and Swiatek does not win the title.

Svitolina, a former world No. 3, returned to competition in April from childbirth.

Muchova took out 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-5, 6-2, to make her second major semifinal after the 2021 Australian Open.

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2023 French Open men’s singles draw

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 5:16 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They meet in Friday’s semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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