In the final race in Torun city on March 29, Tanaka finished first with a time of 10.95 seconds. The Japanese man’s time is only 4% different from the record of 10.91 seconds in 2002 of the Italian athlete, Vittorio Colo.
Tanaka is not the first to start, but has impressive acceleration. The 92-year-old runner is more than 15 meters away from his competitors. The silver medal belonged to the host country Poland Wierzchowski with 13.41 seconds, while the Greek athlete Chatziemmanouil won the bronze medal after 13.49 seconds.
Tanaka grew up in Aomori City, Japan. He is a retired elementary school teacher. In addition to sprinting, he also enjoys walking, marathon running, climbing, skiing and swimming. When he wanted to entertain himself, he often played Go and mahjong.
Tanaka started playing at the age of 60. In 2017, he set two records in the 60m and 200m run at the World Masters Athletics indoor in Daegu, South Korea, for athletes aged 80 to 90. A year later, he won a gold medal in the 100m run at the World Masters Athletics outdoor in Malaga, Spain. He also participated in many senior sports tournaments in Asia.
