She weighs 103 pounds, stands five feet tall (because she’s shrunk an inch) and she has 45 track and field world records to her name.
Christa Bortignon, 85, just earned her latest world record in her favourite event the triple jump a couple of weeks ago in Eugene, Oregon, and is coming to Prince George to try to break the world record for the 200 metre sprint, which is set at 41.58 seconds.
The record has been held by Emiko Saito, 86, in Kofu, Japan since 2017.
Bortignon has already got the indoor 200m world record she broke in February in Kamloops and she wants to make it an indoor/outdoor match set on June 17 at the Spruce Capital Meet at Masich Place, hosted by the Prince George Track & Field Club.
She’s also running the 100m and throwing discus and javelin for fun because that’s what master athletes do in Prince George.
Bortignon most recently broke her seventh world record of 2022 in long jump with a distance of 3.01m, wind -1.8. The others include four indoor records for 60m with 11.18 seconds, long jump with 2.70m, triple jump with 6.35m, the 200m with 42.09 seconds, the outdoor 100m with 18.49 seconds and outdoor triple jump with 6.16m.
“I surprised myself,” Bortignon said. “Considering I have only done some really weird training.”
How weird was it?
During the winter, Bortignon was sprinting 20m at a time because that’s all she could find for a straight stretch in her apartment complex and she would sprint 1600 metres a day. So she would ran back and forth 80 times. When things opened up a little post-pandemic in the spring she found an indoor track but sometimes it took an hour to drive there. So it wasn’t ideal.
Bortignon only started doing track and field when she turned 72.
“I just challenge myself,” Bortignon said about her motivation. “I want to see what I can still do.”
Bortignon made the decision to keep very active after retiring from her career in accounting and she got an insider's look when she started managing a seniors housing complex.
“I saw what happens to people when they get old,” Bortignon said. “They don’t do anything and it’s not just the illnesses but they put on weight and then I saw several people who got dementia and apparently there’s a big relationship between your brain and your body and I don’t want to go there.”
World famous Canadian athlete Olga Kotelko who broke so many world masters records herself and continued to compete right up to a week before she died at 95 years old in 2014, lived close to Bortignon in West Vancouver.
Bortignon called Kotelko up when she first started at 72 years old to ask her how she could get into masters track and field.
“She told me to meet her at the track in half an hour - she was kind of bossy," Bortignon laughed.
Kotelko convinced Bortignon to participate in the national competition that was held just weeks later and the first event was long jump. Bortignon beat the national record on her first jump. Someone did it better but that silver medal hooked her, she medaled in her other two events and she hasn’t stopped since.
Highlights include Bortignon being named World Masters Female Athlete of the Year in 2013, Canadian Masters Female Athlete of the Year four times. She is in the Huntsman World Senior Games Hall of Fame, the Canadian Masters Hall of Fame, has earned 583 medals, and along with her 45 world records has held more than 60 Canadian records and more than 100 BC records over her track and field career of 13 years.
Bortignon credits her supportive husband Attilio for making it so much easier for her to excel in her sport. They have traveled the world together to go to competitions.
“He always encourages me to participate and will joke with me and say if something isn’t too far away I can triple jump there or that I can fly through the air with my long jump or suggest I just sprint to my destination,” Bortignon laughed.
Bortignon picked Prince George for her next world record attempt because her son and his extended family live here and she promised to visit them. So she’s combining her two favourite things, family and track and field.
“My great grandsons have challenged me to a race,” Bortignon laughed.
They are four, six and nine years old and play sports themselves including basketball and hockey but she’s up for the challenge.
“I just hope it’s not raining and it’s not very windy,” Bortignon put in her wish for good weather that would make conditions ideal for her world-calibre sprint.
“The reason I keep doing this is really because of all the wonderful people you meet along the way," Bortignon said. “Everyone is so nice and people will offer tips on how to do better in your event – who does that but masters athletes?”
To see Bortignon attempt to break the 200m world record for W85 come to Masich Place Friday, June 17 at about 5 p.m. and check out all the masters and young athletes as they compete during one of their first big outdoor meets of the season. Entry is free for spectators and it really helps the athletes when people are cheering them on.
