German hurdler notched up huge number of world and European age-group titles and world records but had suffered from Parkinson’s disease in recent years.
Guido Müller, arguably the greatest masters athlete of all-time, died on December 9 aged 87.
The German athlete enjoyed a 38-year career in masters athletics where he won 48 world, 103 European and 156 German titles.
He also set a stack of age-group world records, some of which still stand such as his 300m hurdles marks as an M60 (42.31), M65 (43.88), M70 (45.24) and M75 (49.65).
Such was his brilliance, he was named World Athletics masters athlete of the year three times. When he won one of these awards in 2014, he held a remarkable 17 masters world records at the time spanning the M45 to M75 age groups.
Born in Stuttgart in 1938, as a younger athlete he held a PB of 51.3 for the 400m hurdles and narrowly missed making the East German team for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
He then took a break from sport to pursue family and business interests but returned in the early 1980s with a venom and increasingly raised eyebrows from onlookers with his amazing age-defying athleticism.
Müller finally retired from competition in 2019 after making his mark in the social media era with athletes of all ages viewing clips of his races.
He also appeared on the cover of Athletics Weekly in 2014 alongside British Olympic distance runner Julia Bleasdale.
The World Masters Association said: “In the United States, a masters athlete with Müller’s accomplishments would be called the “GOAT”—the Greatest of All Time.
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“During 38 years in masters athletics he was named World Masters athlete of the year three times, Europe’s senior athlete of the Year twice and amassed an extraordinary record: 48 world titles, 103 European titles, and 156 German national titles.
