Ian William Richards (born April 12, 1948 in Stockport, Cheshire) is a

racewalker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, who represented

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at the 1980 Summer Olympics in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

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. There he ended up in 11th place in the men's 50 km race, clocking 4:22.57. Two years after the Olympics Richards retired from competition, before returning to competition at the age of 60. At the 2013 World Masters Athletics Championships in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...

, Brazil, Richards set a world record in the M65 5,000 meter racewalk (the event for men aged 65–69 years), with a time of 24:13.10, and was second in the M65 10,000 meter racewalk. Richards won the 5,000 meter racewalk at the

2015 World Masters Athletics Championships 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships is the 21st in a series of World Masters Athletics Championships#Outdoor Championships, World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships that took place in Lyon, France from 4 to 16 August 2015. This w ...

. He competed at European and World Masters Championships in 2017 (at Aarhus and Daegue) and 2018 (at Alicante and Malaga). In 2019, Richards broke the M70 world record (the record for men aged 70–74 years) in the 3,000 meter racewalk at the World Masters Indoor Championships in

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, Poland. Later that year, he was named Sports Personality of the Year at the Sussex Sports Awards, for his successes in the preceding year and for being an inspiration to other athletes in Sussex.

References

1948 births Living people British male racewalkers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Stockport English male racewalkers {{UK-athletics-bio-stub