How 93-Year-Old Sprinter Emma Maria Mazzenga Defies Aging

At 93 years old, Italian sprinter Emma Maria Mazzenga is providing scientists with a rare look at how physical decline associated with aging may not be entirely inevitable, cbc.ca reported. Researchers examining her muscles and cardiovascular fitness found that decades of athletic training have left her body with markers usually seen in much younger individuals.

Tracking Biological Decline in People Over 50

Mazzenga became the most extreme participant in a two-year project called Trajector-Age. The study tracked how muscles, nerves, hearts, and metabolism change in people over 50 to determine whether exercise can slow physiological decline. Researchers from several Italian universities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison put Mazzenga through a grueling cycling test and took biopsies from her thigh.

Martino Franchi, an associate professor of human physiology at the University of Padua, noted that Mazzenga’s maximal oxygen consumption, or VO2 max, is comparable to that of someone in their 50s. The microscopic analysis inside her muscles revealed an even bigger surprise. While Mazzenga has lost some fast-twitch fibres used for explosive movement, her slow-twitch fibres, which resist fatigue, remain as big as those of a girl in her 20s.

Researchers think those unusually large fibres help her hold her pace and compensate for the fast fibres lost with age. The research was published earlier this year as two cases in the Journal of Applied Physiology, and lead scientist Marta Colosio received an award for the work at the American Physiology summit. The team is currently analyzing a second round of biopsies alongside genetic and molecular data to separate what Mazzenga inherited from what decades of training preserved.

Decades on the Track From Padua to World Masters

Mazzenga first ran as a university student in Padua in northern Italy. Following her husband’s death, she paused for thirty years while bringing up two children largely by herself and working as a high school biology instructor. At age 53 in 1986, the head of her former university running club gathered retired athletes for masters events, a rapidly expanding division back then for individuals past 35.

During the past four decades, Mazzenga has secured 11 world titles, 31 European championships, and 115 Italian races. She currently holds the 200-metre world record in the women’s over-90 category at 50.33 seconds, a mark she set in 2024 when she was 91. Her proudest moment remains her first world title, the 400-metre W75 race at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento, California, won in 2011.

She still trains three times a week, focusing mostly on short repeats of 50 to 200 metres. Because she has no rivals in her age category in Italy, she races the clock rather than opponents.

Mazzenga Shares Running Advice at Public Events

Mazzenga now speaks regularly at public events, most recently appearing at la Repubblica’s Festival di Salute, an annual health festival featuring Nobel laureates, scientists, and sports champions. She notes that while no one paid much attention to her running in her 80s, interest grew significantly after she turned 90.

For those considering taking up a sport later in life, Mazzenga suggests starting a bit earlier, seeing a doctor, finding a coach, and matching effort to the body’s capacity. She has no plans to slow down, having recently run faster at a club final than she had two years earlier.

Franchi continues to study the molecular data from the second round of biopsies to further understand the limits of human longevity and physical preservation through training.

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