Age Grading Leaps Forward

Age Grading Leaps Forward – WMA Update

WMA Council has approved use of the updated Age Grading Factors: “WMA Council accepts the statistical analysis undertaking on their behalf by the expert panel on Age Grading. The outcomes of that analysis are implemented globally from the 1st of January 2023 till further notice by all competition organizers affiliated to and operating within the Master Athletics’ structure.”

Age Grading Factors, also known as Tables, were first officially adopted by WMA, then World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA), in 1989. They were intended to be used to adjust performances in combined events so scores across all age groups would be consistent. Periodically, updated factors were adopted: in 1994, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2015.

Oceania Region made a Competition Motion to update Age Grading Tables at the 2018 WMA General Assembly in Málaga, Spain. The motion included reinstating one-year factors. Brian Keaveney, then Vice President of Competition, announced that a committee had been setup.

Brian charged the Age Grading Update Committee with updating the factors by the spring of 2020 for consideration at the General Assembly in Toronto. The committee completed the update plus continued to refine through the spring of 2022.

Previous committees have used several thousand age best performances to derive the factors. The most recent committee used up-to-date age best performances plus over 2.8 million more, including lifetime history for many athletes, to derive the factors. Therefore, the factors are a much more accurate representation of performance decline as athletes age.

The committee noticed that the Parameters (Constants) for women’s hammer produced significantly higher scores than all other events. The committee recommended Parameters for women’s hammer and women’s and men’s weight that were produced proportional scores. WMA Council has approved the recommended Parameters as well.

2023-WMA-COMBINED-EVENT-SCORING –  2023 WMA Age Factors and Parameters for Scoring Combined Events