101-year-old poised for 100m gold medal

Australian athlete Les Amey, 101, has a personal best of 59 seconds for the 100 metres but that will be enough to win him a gold medal at the world veterans championships starting on Wednesday.

Amey will have no competition in the 101 to 104 years age group, The Australian newspaper said.

"There's plenty of people as old as me, but they don't exercise," Amey was quoted as saying.

"I feel good, walking keeps me young, keeps the legs well-oiled."

Amey, who can also run 1,500 metres in 16 minutes, said he trained by walking two kilometres a day around his Melbourne home, taking 25 minutes over each kilometre.

"I notice when I walk at normal speed that a lot of people pass me, just like that," he said.

Amey is one of 6,000 athletes, half from overseas, in Brisbane for the 14th world veterans championships, the newspaper said.

Former Australian Olympic gold medallists Glynis Nunn-Cearns and Shirley de la Hunty (nee Strickland) have been lured out of retirement.

Amey took 100 years to enter his first competitive race, last year's national veterans series.

"I'm looking forward to these races. It's on my mind to race at the world championships before I die," he said.