A British woman has become the oldest woman ever to run a sub-18 minute 5km after breaking the record in London.
Claire Elms has set more than 50 World, European or British records/bests over the past two decades, but saved her best run, statistically speaking, for last Saturday at Battersea (April 4).
The races were impressively won by Kadar Omar (14:07) and Hannah Wiener (16:30 PB), but the most notable performance came from Elms, who was 135th out of 141 finishers in the elite race.
The Kent AC athlete ran 17:48 (17:45 on chip) compared to a previous world W60 best of 18:15 from a run in Battersea on New Year’s Eve.
At 62, it easily made her the oldest woman ever to break 18 minutes, scoring a record 104 percent on age-rated tables that have gotten tougher for older women in recent years.
It was his fastest 5km in seven years when he ran a W55 world best of 17:39.
When he was interviewed by AW reporter Jason Henderson after being named AW Reader Athlete of the Year in 2024, he said “I’d love to get back under 18 minutes for 5km, I just need to get the right race and the right weather.”
After about 20 attempts and many world and UK bests at 5km from 60, it started to look classy. At the end of 2025 his best was 18:15 under the gun, although he ran a chip time of 18:09 on a slightly downhill course in mid-Cheshire; the masses speculated that he only ran 18:31 for the best purposes, as it took him 22 seconds to cross the starting line.
Although World Masters Athletics does not recognize 5km as a certified distance, the British masters do, but they insist on gun hours, which the masters say is impractical for older runners in the big race.
At Battersea this meant that although on paper he was the current oldest and slowest competitor in the tough qualifying standards, he had to move closer to the front than ideal to minimize time lost on the track’s rather tight start.
However, with his mother’s funeral the week of and his poor 94-year-old father’s birthday, he was keen to deliver good news when he visited his biggest supporter in hospital that day. He therefore decided to give the under-18s a real try despite the breezy conditions.
After exiting the track, he was effectively back in last place as he went 1km just behind the target in 3:38. With the wind at his back, he was back on track for a quick second kilometer in 3:30 as he took off a few kilometers ahead of the target and covered 3km in 10:43, incidentally faster than his then W60 world record set last year in Ireland.
His fourth kilometer was a slower 3:40, but feeling comfortable, he clocked a 3:22 final kilometer (up to 17 pace) as he overtook several younger runners.
His time puts him almost three minutes clear of the UK W60 ranking.
Family inspiration aside, he puts his big improvement down to increased strength, having made his Hyrox competitive debut a week ago.
Her father’s daily hospital visits have limited her competitive opportunities in 2026, but she then set world indoor records in the mile and 3000m, and in the other two races, the 1500m, she ran times that would have been world records in late January.
After Omar’s 14:07, Jack Millar was second ahead of junior Tom Webb’s 14:20 and International Masters winner Lee Gratton’s 14:37.
The Elms weren’t the only good in the women’s masters as Stragglers W45 Lisa Bailey was second in 16:55 and Mansfield’s Hayley Gill was top W50 in 17:44.
