'Battle of the Centuries' 1 Of Many Events At World Senior Games

Seemingly cloaked between the St. George Marathon and the upcoming PGA Tour event, the Huntsman World Senior Games begins Monday.

With the opening ceremonies set for Tuesday night at Burns Arena (featuring the Parade of Athletes, Siva Pasifika, Flag Extravaganza, and more), the Senior Games will showcase 38 different sports and world records are likely to fall.

With a record 11,831 senior athletes converging on Southern Utah, the 37th annual Huntsman World Senior Games will provide the venue for the first-ever, Senior World Championships, Oct. 7-19.

Celebrating athletes from 30 countries, competing for over 9,000 medals, the Games will recognize the Senior World Champion in each of 35 sporting events.

This year, the senior athletes who receive medals will return home as Senior World Champions.

Since 1987, the Huntsman World Senior Games has set the gold standard for competitive athletic events for senior athletes aged 50 and above. Featuring a wide variety of sporting events, the Games is the worldwide leader in promoting active aging competition and now recognized as the venue for senior athletic championships.

“As we looked at the various senior sporting events taking place, no one was providing a world championship opportunity exclusively for senior athletes,” said Kyle M Case, the CEO for the Senior Games. “We feel the Huntsman World Senior Games is the perfect place. No other senior multi-sport venue is better positioned to do that. Starting this year, we are excited to step into that responsibility of awarding Senior World Championships.”

New this year will be athletic teams from Belize and Hong Kong joining other athletes from nearly every corner of the planet, including Mongolia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

World or national records are likely to be set or broken in many events.

Returning again to the swimming events is 100 year old Dutch-Canadian, Elisabeth Brussel, who recently set several world records for her age group. She is expected to continue to better her times, making her the World Champion in the pool.

Bill Owens will go up against Herb Wilkinson in the 50m dash in what is being billed as the “Battle of the Centuries,” since both athletes are centenarians.

Barbara Wintroub, age 78, is a pickleball pioneer and author of the book Fighting Gravity. Easy to spot on the court with her bright shock of purple hair, Barbara is an advocate for women and active aging.

St. George is internationally recognized as the “hot spot” for Pickleball competition.

Paul Holbrook, 62 years old, will return for his 11th appearance, competing in several track and field events. Paul is an expert in human performance training for adults 50 plus.

Kay Glynn, age 71, is expected to best her world record in the pole vault. Having overcome double hip replacement surgery, she has again risen to the top and is expected to vault even higher.

Nick Cipollino, age 92, is expected to make another medal showing in Shotgun Sports. With over 70 gold medals for shooting, Nick is a former Korean War vet and still ardent about helicopter snow skiing. His motto, “Don’t let the old man in.”

At 101 years, Eva Sorensen is the oldest female athlete at the Games. She is a multi-sport athlete competing in bowling and shu`leboard. Coming from Virginia to compete each of the last 15 years, Eva is again expected to break records in her age category.

The Huntsman World Senior Games is the largest annual multi-sport event in the world for athletes ages 50 and better.

Every October more than 11,500 athletes come to St. George in Southern Utah to compete in their choice of more than 35 different sporting events.

The games are, in part, made possible through generous support from partners like the Huntsman Family Foundation and Balance of Nature.

For more information:

Kyle M Case Chief Executive Officer
kcase@seniorgames.net
+1 435-674-0550