Getting older doesn’t mean that you can’t get any faster, as Sir Rod Stewart is proving. Despite having been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, winning a Grammy Award and even earning a knighthood, 80-year-old Stewart has now set his sights on attempting to break the 100m world record for his age group.

Through an intense training regime that helps to keep him ‘very fit’, he wants to knock seconds off his sprinting time to achieve the objective. ‘I got it [Stewart’s 100m time] down to 19 seconds by learning how to push off,’ he told AARP magazine. ‘I’m going to try to do 17 seconds, which I think is a world record for an 80-year-old.’

However, while he continues to train on the private running track at his English estate, Stewart might have to reconsider his world record attempt. In October 2024, American Kenton Brown became the fastest 80-year-old in history when he set a staggering time of 14.21 at the Nevada Senior Games in Las Vegas. He even achieved that record with a negative wind speed of -0.7m/s, which means that Brown could well have gone faster if the elements were on his side.

What everyone's reading

Regardless, Stewart continues to do a lot of underwater training that not only helps with his physical fitness, but also his vocals. He is set to perform in the Legends slot at Glastonbury this June and, as such, will want to be on top form for that.

‘I keep myself very fit,’ he said. ‘I played soccer all my life, but I don’t do so much anymore, because I had a knee replacement. I’ve always had a trainer, too – the same guy for 38 years. I have an indoor pool, a massive gym, a golf course, everything.

‘We do a lot of underwater training, where the trainer throws a brick into the pool and I have to dive in, push the brick to the end of the pool and come up,’ he added. ‘Frank Sinatra once said this to me: “Rod, the secret to being a great singer is having powerful lungs. Do lots of underwater swimming, where you hold your breath.”’

From: Men's Health UK