The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS 

Chief Sports Editor 

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Timothy Munnings and Michael Armbrister are still in contention for another medal for Team Bahamas at the 25th World Masters Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The duo, along with sprinter Miriam Byfield, are representing The Bahamas in the week-long track and field championships this week at the Slottsskogsvallen & Ullevi Stadium.

Munnings, who captured the first medal at the championships with a bronze in the 200m metres of the men’s 55-plus age group, easily advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 400m in a time of 56.78 seconds. He left his nearest rival, Andreas Habermacher of Switzerland, trailing behind in 59.47.

As an Olympiqn who ran on several men’s 4 x 400m relay team, Munnings is completing his appearance at the championships after he secured the bronze in the 200m.

He noted, however, that just as competitive as it was in the half-lap 200m, he expects that the competition will be very stiff in the one-lap 400m.

Competing in his first event at the championships, Armbrister placed third in the men’s 60-plus preliminaries in a season’s best of 1:02.44, posting the fifth fastest time going into the semifinals.

Winning the heat was Great Britain’s Tennyson James in 1:01.84 with Brazil’s Israel Ferreira De Melo in second in 1:02.10.

Armbrister, the president of the Bahamas Masters Association and an assistant coach of the Redline Athletics Track Club, also competed in his finals of the long jump where he was 11th overall with a best leap of 4.51m. 

Byfield, competing in the women’s 35-plus division, was sixth in her semifinals of the 400m, but she won’t advance to the final as she wrapped up her initial appearance in the championships.

Earlier in the championships, Byfield also competed in both 100 and 200m. She made it to the final of the 100m where she was seventh, but she didn’t get into the final of the 200m after falling short in the semifinals.

The championships, which allow athletes to compete in a global event past their prime against competitors from around the world, will wrap up this weekend.

The biennial championships for masters athletics events, is being held under the auspices of World Masters Athletics, formerly called the World Association of Veterans athletes, for athletes 35 years of age or older and are divided into five-age groups.

The inaugural championships was held at Centennial Park Stadium in Toronto, Canada in 1975. The previous championship was staged at the Ratinan Stadion in Tampere, Finland in 2022.

Since 2004 at the Glaspalast Sindelfingen Stadium in Sindelfingen, Germany in 2004, athletes also get to compete in indoor championships as the elite world-class athletes. 

The last indoors was staged at the Arena Torun in Torun, Poland in 2023. The next indoors will be at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center in Gainesville, Florida from March 2-30, 2025.