Verona Elder

Verona Elder ( Verona Marolin Elder, nee Bernard ; born April 5, 1953 in Wolverhampton ) is a former British sprinter who specialized in the 400-meter run , middle-distance and hurdle runner .

Life

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, she reached the quarter-finals over 400 m and came in fifth with the British team in the 4 x 400 meter relay .

The following year she won the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Rotterdam over 400 m. In 1974 she won silver over 400 m and gold in the relay for England starting at the British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch . At the European Athletics Championships in Rome a seventh place over 400 m and a sixth in the relay followed.

At the European Indoor Championships in 1975 in Katowice, she again won gold over 400 m. In 1976 she was eliminated from the quarter-finals over 400 m at the Olympic Games in Montreal and took seventh place with the British relay. A silver medal over 400 m at the Indoor European Championships 1977 in San Sebastián was followed by sixth place over 800 m at the Indoor European Championships 1978 in Milan. As four years before, she won silver in the 400 m and gold in the relay at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton , but was again empty-handed at the EM in Prague with an eighth place in the 400 m and a fourth in the relay.

She won two further medals over 400 m at the European Indoor Championships: Gold 1979 in Vienna and bronze 1981 in Grenoble . Over 400 m hurdles she entered at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982 and at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983 , but was eliminated in each case in the preliminary stages.

In 1972, 1976 and 1977 she became an AAA champion. In the hall she won eight times the AAA title over 400 m (1972, 1973, 1975-1977, 1979, 1981, 1982) and once over 800 m (1978).

Personal bests

• 200 m : 23.29 s, June 17th 1978, Birmingham
• 400 m: 51.70 s, June 10, 1978, Fürth (hand-stopped: 51.4 s, May 22, 1976, Kiev )
  • Halle: 51.80 s, February 25, 1979, Vienna
• 800 m: 2: 03.18 min, June 10, 1979, Fürth
  • Hall: 2: 04.3 min, March 11, 1978, Milan
• 400 m hurdles: 57.07 s, July 15, 1983, London

Web links

• Verona Elder in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Athlete portrait at The Power of Ten
• Verona Elder at Sporting Heroes
• Verona Elder in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )