“My time has gotten better since I’ve gotten older”: 70-year-old Michael Kish compared to Usain Bolt as he claims World No. 1 title
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Michael Kish, the Usain Bolt of 70-year-olds
Age is just a number, and that is certainly true for sprinter Michael Kish, who has proven this time and time again on the track. What is more surprising is that he took it up only a decade ago.
First trying track in college, it had been more than 40 years since the sprinter had taken to the track. After coming across a brochure for the New Jersey Senior Olympics, Kish finally had a goal set in mind. At the age of 70, Kish quickly became the Usain Bolt of his age group, going viral for his amazing feat.
“It’s amazing,” Kish said to news.yahoo.com. “I had no clue where I was going to go with this. I just wanted to do as well as I could.” Going to Essex Catholic High School, New Jersey, Kish did not seem to receive much formal training. After not receiving any scholarship after high school Michael Kish kept aside his dream of track and field.
Michael Kish- the Usain Bolt of 70-year-olds
But when Kish returned to the track just about a decade ago, he picked it right back up. His only strategy going into the New Jersey Senior Olympics was to run as fast as he could. And run he did, as he placed second with an impressive time of 29.2s that day. Taking this on as motivation, he started practicing 3 days a week, and also hit the gym frequently. By 2015, he was running sub-13-second times in the 100 and sub-27-second times in the 200.
Kish then managed to reach the World No. 1 in the 70-and-over category. “My rankings and my times have gotten better as I’ve gotten older. That’s what I look for at the end of the season is where I’m ranked. It’s motivating for me because it makes it more competitive.” Kish said he wants to further improve his timings, and inspire several other people his age and even younger to do the same.
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