For most people, retirement is a chance to slow down and take things easy. Juan López García thought it would be the perfect time to ramp things up.
The former car mechanic from Toledo, Spain, didn’t begin running seriously until age 66. At the time, he could barely make it a mile. Sixteen years later, López García is an 82-year-old ultramarathoner with a fitness profile that looks suspiciously youthful. In fact, it was so out of the norm that scientists decided to put him under a microscope and see what was going on.
A recent physiological study published in Frontiers in Physiology found that López García’s aerobic capacity rivals that of men decades younger. His VO₂ max, the standard measure of how efficiently the body uses oxygen, is the highest ever recorded in someone in their eighties. Normally, VO₂ max drops by roughly 10% per decade after age 30.
In López García’s case, it climbed after he started training. The researchers described values consistent with those seen in healthy men in their 20s.
This 82-Year-Old Runner Has the Health of a Man in His 20s
That number is significant because endurance sports live and die on oxygen delivery. Tests also showed that López García’s muscles are unusually good at extracting oxygen from his blood and using it over long periods. That ability powers steady, sustained effort, which explains why he holds the world record in the 80 to 84 age group for the 31-mile ultramarathon and won the world marathon championship for his age group in 2024 with a time of 3:39:10, setting a European record along the way.
Researchers also looked closely at how his body uses fuel. Researchers found his maximal fat oxidation rate sits around 0.55 grams per minute, similar to that of much younger endurance athletes. He also begins burning fat at around 77% of his VO₂ max, way higher than the typical range. Add healthy hemoglobin levels, a solid lean body mass profile, and a stable BMI, and you get an athlete who can keep going long after most peers his age would need to stop.
López García hasn’t somehow escaped aging. His lactate threshold and running economy were strong for his age, but nothing extraordinary. The researchers acknowledged that physical decline eventually happens to everyone, driven by changes in muscle mass and oxygen capacity. What his case shows is how much room there still is to push back.
“The present findings reinforce the concept that maintaining high exercise capacity in advanced age supports the preservation of VO₂ max, a key predictor of all-cause mortality,” the study authors wrote.
López García told The Washington Post that he began running simply to “run a little to maintain my health.” These days, he trains with a coach, runs about 40 miles a week, lifts weights, eats a Mediterranean-style diet, and plans to keep going. “I remember my grandparents,” he said. “At this age, they were like little old people. Today, I do not feel old.”
No one is telling you to become an ultrarunner. But it’s pretty cool to see that even when you start late, it still counts and still makes a difference.
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