Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic athletics track: Made in Italy, designed to break records, sustainable, and... purple!
Three hundred world records have been broken on Mondo athletics tracks since 1972 and it is hoped many more will fall at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
It has been 52 years since the track-and-field surface and equipment specialist celebrated its first world record, in the men's 4x200m relay in Barletta, Italy where the home team made up of Pietro Mennea, Franco Ossola, Luigi Benedetti and Pasqualino Abeti etched their names into the history books with a time of 1:21.50.
Another 299 world records have fallen on Mondo tracks since.
The company, which is based in Alba in the northwest of Italy, has built tracks for some of the world's greatest sporting events including the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, world championships and continental championships. They have also been tasked with making the athletics track for Paris 2024.
Olympics.com visited Mondo’s lab in March 2024 to take a closer look at the track that will be installed at the Stade de France and at the nearby Stade Annexe, where athletes will train and warm-up before competition.
Find out what Mondo's masterminds had to say about their work and what makes the Paris 2024 track so special.
"If athletes break records, we are happy too"
Earlier in March, Femke Bol and Devynne Charlton broke world records at the World Athletics Indoor Championship in Glasgow. It was a proud moment for Maurizio Stroppiana, vice president of the sports sector at Mondo.
“We measure the quality of our work from athletes’ personal bests," he said. "If they succeed, it means that our products contributed and allowed them to perform at their best. World records represent the cherry on top of the cake.”
The Italian company has partnered with World Athletics since 1987.
“We coordinate with them and with national federations to produce high-quality sports equipment," Stroppiana said. "We make about 150 pieces: cages, carts, mattresses, starting-blocks, take-off boards and hurdles. We built the first track at the Stade de France in 1998, then again for the 2003 World Athletics Championships.
"In the last seven or eight years we have been in constant contact with athletes," he continued. "We are trying to invite them here to have them try the track and get their feedback.”
Mondo will next produce the 17,000 m2 track, to be packed and transported to the French capital in time for the start of the Olympic Games in July. Designed with the requests of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee in mind, the track will be made of three colours: two shades of purple (one lighter, closer to lavender, and the other one darker), and grey, which will be used on the outer side of the track.
Before the 2024 Olympic Games, athletes will be able to test another Mondo track at the European Championships in Rome, to be held from 7 to 12 June at the Stadio Olimpico and the nearby Stadio dei Marmi. The costs of these tracks are estimated to be between 2 and 3 million Euro.
“It depends on the size of the job," Stroppiana said**.** "These are not the precise costs of Paris 2024, for which we will not go into detail. It is an indicative evaluation, which also includes building works. There is minimal difference compared to Tokyo 2020.”
Sustainable tracks fit for Paralympic sports
Giorgio Lesage, Mondo’s innovation and sustainability director, explained how the company uses recycled products to make their tracks more sustainable.
“Our story begins in 1948 thanks to rubber, a natural product," Lesage said. "We always try to use non-fossil products, not derived from oil. We have certifications regarding the use of recycled materials. Our products are durable, have a reduced environmental impact and can be reused at the end of their life.”
The path to a more sustainable approach and the use of more renewable resources started at London 2012.
“We have worked a lot on being more energy efficient," Lesage said. "We went from 35 per cent of renewable and non-fossil materials at London to more than 50 per cent in Paris. From 2012 until now, we reduced our environmental impact, and we are working on reducing it even more. The challenges for Paris are regarding the performance and the sustainability.”
This level of attention to detail and performance is especially appreciated by Paralympic athletes.
“Since it’s made of rubber, there is a good interaction between the track and wheelchairs that guarantees good grip and resistance," Stroppiana said. "Paralympic athletes are very satisfied. Prosthetics are more aggressive on the track, but the quality of our product allows its use without any issue.”
The Paris 2024 athletics track is manufactured at the Mondo factory in Alba, Italy.
Mathematical models applied to Olympic tracks: This is how athletes "fly"
It takes several studies and in-depth analysis to produce the best possible product for elite athletes. Engineering, physics, chemistry - they all play a key role in the development of the best materials.
“Building a mathematical model allows us to confirm a series of hypothesis, and we then study different graphs that tell us what happens if we modify any specific element," explained Andrea Marenghi, the research and development manager at Mondo Italy. "We have improved this system over the years. What we do allows us to eliminate lots of options and identify the two or three most promising solutions. It means we have control over our projects.
“The relationship we have with the athletes is very important for us to receive feedback," he added. "In the lower part of the material there are some empty sections. Our models helps us understand that it is possible to have better results if we maintain these empty areas. Athletes give more energy to the track and the track gives it back at the right moment for them to continue their athletic movements.”
World Athletics has also provided criteria for the company to follow during production.
“There are some minimum and maximum parameters related to durability, compliance and energy absorption, which we must adhere to," Marenghi said. "We don’t throw anything away, we re-use everything. The average duration of an elite track is 10 years. Often, a new one is built on top of the old one. We produce about 50 tracks a year. It takes about a week to produce the shorter tracks and two or three weeks for the longer ones.”
Pieces of the Paris 2024 athletics track lie at the Mondo factory in Alba.
Collaboration between Mondo and the Polytechnic University of Milan
In an effort to stay on top of the latest technological trends, Mondo collaborates with the Politecnico di Milano, which assists the company with analysing track materials.
“We are focusing on the dynamic connection between the track and a new generation of shoes," said Alessandro Piceli, the research and development manager at Mondo. "For the track, we only see the aesthetics, but there is great work that goes into the underlayer.
"A new granule of polymeric material, made especially for that, was inserted in the Tokyo track. We have made it even better now. We have chemists, engineers and physicists who take care of the performance of the material.
"Our mathematical model allows us to perform countless simulations of the geometric shape of the material of the underlying part, creating the ideal cavity to improve sports performance.”
With so much care and attention placed on improving sporting performance, it is surely just a matter of time before more world records are broken.