Paris Olympics wanted a fast track, and it got it – here’s how it was made

The Stade de France track for the 2024 Paris Olympics has two requirements: purple and fast.

This color is in line with Parisian fashion and is designed to create a unique performance stage for athletes. The track’s hue is lighter than the typical red track, following in the footsteps of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, when the track was first offered in navy blue instead of red.

Making it faster isn’t as simple as a design choice. In fact, “fast lane” has become the most clichéd term in track and field – no host city would require a slow lane, right?

but paris Was Fast: Seven Olympic records and three track and field world records were set at the Olympics. This excludes the world’s best decathlon performances and field events (hammer throw, shot put), which do not use a track or running track.

The combined number of Olympic/world records has been on the rise in recent Olympics: five in London (2012); six in Rio; 10 in Tokyo (2020), as well as Paris. The idea that athletes are getting bigger, faster, and stronger is an oversimplification. Human beings are becoming smarter and smarter, and technology is becoming more and more advanced.

What mattered was not just how the record spread in Paris, but how it spread. Thirteen men ran faster than Kenenisa Bekele’s 2008 10,000m Olympic record of 27:01, led by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei in 26:43.

13 men break Kenenisa Bekele’s 10,000m Olympic record (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Four men, including Ingebrigtsen, broke Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s 1500m Olympic record in Tokyo, but he did not win a medal. Four women broke the 1500m Olympic record of Faith Kipyegon, also from Tokyo, who won in 3 minutes and 51 seconds.

go deeper

How the Ingebrigtsen-Kerr 1500m race was pushed to new heights – even though neither man won

The women’s 400m final was the fastest ever, with all nine athletes finishing under 50 seconds. The men’s 100m final is the most difficult event in Olympic history to advance to. Never before had a second semi-final with less than 10 points not guaranteed advancement.

The final itself was the deepest ever and the only time all nine men made it to the under-10s in a wind-legal competition, and the smallest gap from first to eighth in a global final – Noah Lyles The gap between the gold medal and eighth place was 0.12 seconds.

Similarly, the men’s 800m final was the first time four men ran under 1 minute 42 seconds in the same race, and it was a race that did not break the Olympic record.

The 100m final was the only time all nine men entered the under-10s in a wind-legal event (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Maurizio Stroppiana is vice president of Mondo, an Italian company that makes synthetic track and field tracks. Mondo first manufactured the Olympic track for Moscow in 1980, 12 years and three Olympics since it was first launched in Mexico City in 1968.

“As we all know, the Mondo circuit is the fastest circuit in the world, with more than 300 records set so far, accounting for more than 70% of all current records,” said Stroppiana.

If you think numbers like this mean Mondo has cracked the science of making fast tracks, well they have, but the science isn’t as perfect as you might think. Mondo’s tracks are made of “vulcanized rubber,” Stroppiana said.

When Paris hosted the Olympics in 1924, the track was on a cinder track. “It’s like dirt,” Stropiana explains. “So, other than getting dirty, it’s more like running in a field than running on a 400m (synthetic) track.”

The term “fast track” is a bit of a misnomer. The key to a fast (or slow) athlete is to make the track efficient. “We’re trying to minimize energy loss. The track will compress (when the foot hits the track), and then it will return the energy in the most efficient way, although some of it will definitely be lost,” Stroppiana said.

The first synthetic track was used at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics (AFP via Getty Images)

Athletes generate about three times their body weight in vertical force when running. How much of this is converted into horizontal force – which moves them forward – depends on “braking and propulsive forces,” Stropiana said.

Mondo implemented “elliptical air bags within the track base” which they found had dual benefits: a 2.6% increase in net horizontal energy return and a 1.9% improvement in shock absorption.

This is about protecting athletes while trying to maximize performance, although these things are interrelated. “The track has to provide a certain level of comfort and cushioning,” says Stroppiana.

He outlined that the determinants of maximum energy return are “the type of material, the elasticity of the material.” We found these aerosols at the bottom of the orbit. This helps with the cushioning effect and how the energy returns as evenly as possible”.

“We noticed on a previous track (Tokyo) that depending on where the athlete steps (foot), you get different results. We modified the shape to provide a more even response and increase the recessed area of ​​the track,” said Stroppiana .

“This makes the track even better because they don’t feel any difference and the elastic response is exactly the same throughout the track to ensure the athlete’s rhythm is maintained.”

This sounds simple and straightforward, but it’s not. “It took us about two years to fine-tune this new solution. We developed this mathematical model at the University of Milan,” says Stroppiana. It allows them to run simulations faster and test new combinations. The four-year Olympic cycle provides ideal preparation time.

Cleaning the track at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (Antonin Thullier/AFP via Getty Images)

One myth Stropiana is keen to bust is track hardness. “These stories start with the 1996 (Atlanta) Olympics because they set some great records,” he said. “They started saying, ‘Yeah, it’s fast, and it’s fast because it’s hard.’ We couldn’t change that view from that point on.

How difficult is the Paris circuit? “It’s softer than it was before,” Stroppiana said. “We really realize that making the track difficult is not a good solution. And, (it) doesn’t necessarily translate into faster times. In fact, it can actually lead to injuries. So we’re That has changed in the last six or seven years.

They now use lower-carbon production methods and more sustainable materials than before, including calcium carbonate from mussel shells.

Not surprisingly, it’s not cheap. Stroppiana puts the Paris track’s pricing at “anywhere from two million to three million,” explaining that the top synthetic section is “only 14 millimeters thick. Pretty thin.” Tracks typically last about 15 years before needing to be replaced or relayed, he said.

Mondo built Rio’s blue track for the 2016 Olympics (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Decades of academic research have detailed the effects of altitude (good for sprinting, with reduced air resistance; bad for distance running, with reduced oxygen) and wind.

Another impact of the 1968 Olympics was that it was the highest-ever Summer Olympics, at over 2,000 m (7,000 ft) above sea level. Sprint and jumping records were broken. Among the 12 sprint events, only the women’s 400 meters has not broken Olympic or world records, but progress in long-distance events has been slow.

Sprint performances exceeding 1,000 meters are not considered legal and are “highly assisted”. A tailwind of up to two meters is the threshold for a legal sprint performance.

This means that a good track needs to be in the right position to be the best position for a (legal) record. Saint-Denis, where the Stade de France is located, is located in the north of Paris, less than 50 meters above sea level. Stropiana spoke of the stadium creating a “microclimate” to “provide more favorable (performance) conditions”.

“The stadium’s architecture, including its oval shape and partially covered roof, helps reduce wind disturbance. The stadium’s seating arrangement and the height of the stands help to screen the track,” he explained.

Looking to the future, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in the United States and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics in Australia will both be held in coastal cities.

The “microclimate” at the Stade de France provides favorable conditions for fast matches (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

For Stroppiana, the future of track production lies in Mondo’s collaborations with footwear/cleat brands known for “keeping their knowledge secret.” There is now an open innovation movement, which means collaborating within the industry rather than through competing brands.”

“I think the next step in the development of runway surfaces is to adapt them for these different (area) disciplines — that’s an area of ​​improvement for all runways,” Stropiana said.

He went on to say that Mondo works with the likes of Adidas, Nike, Asics, ON and Puma, with the latter in Paris.

“Before Tokyo, we worked with Asics because they gave us some insights. We installed our track in their research lab and they were testing different types, different solutions to see which (track) is the best.

“They do their own assessment and try to make sure the (rail/spike) interaction is as good as possible and focus on how the spikes grip the surface, which is critical.”

Different events require spikes of different lengths. Stroppiana talks about the 400m studs having “different properties on the right side” to help with flexing the run (because the outside of the foot contacts the track first when landing, the athlete runs to the left).

There’s a trade-off: Mondo “wants to ensure proper traction but minimize friction. So if the studs penetrate the surface too much, it slows down the athlete,” says Stroppiana. “That’s one of the characteristics of the top wear layer: it has to be spike-resistant.”

The exceptions are pole vaulting and javelin, where athletes move with so much force that spikes need to penetrate the surface to avoid injury.

“In Paris, if you look closely at the javelin track, you can see that the last part is a slightly different color (from the track),” Stroppiana said. “Why? Because this part is specifically designed for javelin throwers. We worked with the German team and the Finnish team to test different solutions.” He said they wanted a track with “more spike resistance and better grip.”

“Normally, the track has to be the same. Different areas cannot have different attributes. But for the javelin, they (World Athletics) accepted the changes. And it worked: Pakistan’s Arshad Arshad Nadeem won Pakistan’s first track and field gold medal with a score of 92.97m, breaking the Olympic record by over 2.5m.

Stropiana is optimistic about more adjustments ahead. “For long distances, you can create a purpose-built section,” he said, suggesting an inside line. “In fact, we’ve done some tracks like this – just for training, not for racing – where you have a differentiated elastic response.”

There is no doubt that the Los Angeles Speedway will be more efficient in 2028. Mondo had four years to test and retest new combinations and cleat brands to work with. The main question that remains is: what color will it be?

(Above: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images)