Back to the Top News Newsfeed

A Bolt From the Past: Don Pellmann, at 100, Is Still Breaking Records

CreditSandy Huffaker for The New York Times

SAN DIEGO — Don Pellmann had been at the San Diego Mesa College track for less than an hour Sunday morning and already he had moved his lawn chair twice to remain in the shade, which was receding fast. By the time Pellmann set his fifth age-group world record, in the early afternoon, the temperature on the track was creeping toward 100, which also happens to be the birthday Pellmann celebrated last month.

Pellmann, the most senior athlete in the San Diego Senior Games, became the first centenarian to break 27 seconds in the 100-meter dash and the first to clear an official height in the high jump.