Age...
Initial reports are of a call from the aircraft indicating a problem, and then a very high g manoeuvre occurring. It is hard to reconcile this with any age factor. The photo of the tail section shows the inner tab separating and forcing the remaining tab to deflect (servo) the elevator TE up.
Whether 18 or 80, a sudden high g onset without being prepared will put most people's lights out. The pitch rate of the aircraft in the pull up, pull down, and the final start of the pull out is indicative of very high g loads being sustained.
Reno is spectacular, and not too many people go there without being aware that it historically can be dangerous for the participants, and the public are proximate to the event... at 500mph, a loss of control can cover a lot of ground, and "proximate" becomes down in it. It is a tragedy, but not completely unexpected. The surprise is that mixing high speed aircraft, low level ops and spectators is as incident free as it is generally.