By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
Gambian-Great British Athlete Mensah Elliott, shattered the Masters Athletics 60 meters hurdles record with a time of 7.91 seconds in mid-March 2022. Back in 2012, Mensah won silver for The Gambia, however, injuries and a lack of competition convinced him to switch allegiances to Team Great Britain (GB) back in 2015 and he’s not looked back since.
Winning Silver for The Gambia
Born in the United Kingdom (UK) to Gambian father Mensah Elliott (Senior), Mensah Elliott Junior bears the same name as his father who relocated with his family to The Gambia when Junior Mensah was only 18 months. Young Mensah’s athletics career started at St Joseph’s Ex-Pupils (now known as Ndow’s Comprehensive Primary School) where he started running in the inter-house competition. He later transferred to Saint Augustine’s High School where he took up Javelin and Shotput.
At Form Five young Mensah plucked up the courage to compete in the 4 by 100 meters relay. After approaching his Physical Education Teacher, Mr Sabally to run for the relay team, he finally got his chance to prove himself at the Independence Stadium. Unbeknown to his Teacher, Mensah had been racing against boys five years his senior. After beating all seven students to claim first place at the trials, Mensah won the 4 by 100m relays in the 1993 Inter-Schools Competition for his High School. He didn’t stop there either, that year Mensah won the Shotput, Javelin and the hotly contested 100m race.
Mensah explains how he returned to the UK when he was only 15 years. Although he had been travelling to and from the UK he struggled to settle in. Always at home on the track, the Trackstar found home in an Athletics Club in Crystal Palace where he started to develop his technique. Mensah was also pursuing an Engineering Degree at Brunel University. Combining his studies with Athletics was challenging given the number of events he had to compete in. His hard work all paid off when he got his first England call-up in 1999. However, this did not stop him from representing The Gambia.
Mensah made his father and Gambians proud when he represented The Gambia at the 2012 World Masters Indoor Championships. Racing to the finish line with a time of 8.12 seconds Mensah bagged a Silver Medal for his fatherland. The Masters Athletics is an event for Athletes over 35 years of age categorised in five-year age brackets. In the 2012 tournament, Mensah competed in the M35 category.
After picking up his first Masters Silver Medal Mensah was plagued with injuries that compelled him to undergo an operation. The injury ruled him out of the 2013 and 2014 Masters Competitions. The two-year break allowed him to reflect on the level of support he needed to rediscover his form and compete.
“I realised I did not have the support I needed from the Gambian Athletics Federation and my competition was limited because The Gambia did not have a master’s team at all. In Africa, we didn’t have an African Masters Championship either and I really wanted to compete. So, the opportunities for me to compete are limited to just the World Championship which is one competition every year,” said Mensah.
This was when he decided to switch allegiance to Team GB’s Athletics which also made it possible to compete in the European Competitions.
Breaking Records for Team GB
After switching his allegiance to Team GB Mensah won his first medal for Team GB in 2015 when he won silver in the hurdles. Unfortunately, after a few competitions, he lost his father “knocking him off course”. The loss of his father, a key supporter of his athletics career forced him into a two-month hiatus to collect himself and boy did he come back with a bang.
Soon after his return Mensah broke the Great British Hurdles record with a time of 7.95 seconds in 2016. He continued his winning streak and won a number of races however his career was disrupted by injuries as he featured on and off Athletics competitions until 2018.
Finally, in February 2022 Mensah really began to explode on the world stage. In late February Mensah won silver in the 60-meter race for Team GB at the European Masters Championship. At that race, his two Team GB Teammates won Gold and Bronze making it a “Great Britain 1st, 2nd and 3rd”. That result highlights the importance of competition within the Gambian Team which a young Mensah was lacking.
Although he was competing in his “first hurdles race since 2020” Mensah “set a New Championship Record, which is also a new British and European Record, 8.20 seconds” in the European Masters Championship.
In less than a month, Mensah had done it again this time winning gold to become “the UK Inter-Area Masters Champion”. This time he ran his “personal best time of 7.91 seconds, which has shattered the previous World record (8.15 seconds), set in 2017 by Derek Pye”.
Now in his mid-40s, Mensah epitomises the spirit of persistence in his drive to become an Athletics World Masters Champion. When announcing his hard-earned victory on Social Media, Mensah made reference to African American Athlete Gail Devers who once said “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe”.
