Christa Bortignon, as Canadian masters records coordinator, reports that Helena “Helly” Visser over the weekend broke the 1500 world indoor record with a time of 7:48.23 at the Golden Bear Open T&F Meet in Edmonton, Alberta. “Just missed the world record in the 3000m of 16:04.94 by 19 second with a time of 16:23.93, a Canadian record,” Christa adds. Helly turned 80 Jan. 9 so she didn’t wait long to attack age group’s records. Her mark, set at the Universiade Pavilion (aka the Butterdome), beats the record of 7:52.11 set by Germany’s Melitta Czerwenka-Nagel in 2013. Helly ran for a video in 2011. Except for her white hair, she looks 35! She won W75 gold in the 800 and 1500 at Sacramento worlds. She also hold WR in W70 4×800.

Helly, handing off at 2011 worlds, has been competing since the 1980s.