Olympic, world, national and personal records lay shattered on the Tokyo track. It's not crazy, though. The track was built for this to happen
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They’re running on a bouncy surface produced the same way as a Formula One tire.
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As Olympic, world, national and personal records lay shattered on the Tokyo track, even the athletes are getting a tad freaked out by all the burnt rubber. Rai Benjamin beat the 400-metre hurdles world record by 0.6 seconds this week, but settled for silver after Norwegian Karsten Warholm obliterated it.
“If you would have told me I would run 46.1 and lose, I would probably beat you up,” Benjamin said post-race. “I’d tell you to get out of my room.”
World Athletics senior editor Jon Mulkeen pointed out in a tweet that both the men’s and women’s 400-metre hurdles produced two runs better than the previous world record and a bronze medalist that topped the pre-2021 mark. You could basically hear retired decathlon star Ashton Eaton scratching his head while typing a response.
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“Seriously can’t deal with all this insanity,” he wrote.
It’s not crazy. The track was built for this to happen.
A key addition was rubber granules that create pockets of air on an ultra-thin 14-millimetre vulcanized top layer. The international relations manager for track designer Mondo bragged the surface optimizes grip, elasticity and generates a 1-2 per cent bump in quickness.
“They not only provide shock absorption but give some energy return, at the same time a trampoline effect,” Andrea Vallauri told the Daily Mail. “We have improved this combination and this is why we are seeing the track has improved performance. What you are seeing is evolution. Clearly every time there is an Olympic Games we try to improve the formulation of the material and Tokyo has been no different.”
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Can you imagine if Usain Bolt in his prime raced on this stuff?
This is Mondo’s 12th time making the Olympic track, a relationship that started in 1976 at Montreal. Over 280 world records have been set on its surfaces and it’s clear the Italian company would love that number to accelerate on its $1.5 million advancement.
Nobody knows when the next Bolt will arrive, so why not give a little head start to the people who are here now?
The big question remains safety. Canadian sprinter Gavin Smellie told the New York Times the unrelenting track altered his race preparations.
“It makes your body feel sore, especially the following day,” he said.
But then, his teammate Andre De Grasse blazed to 200-metre gold in his sixth race over four days. He will get a small window to celebrate, then recharge for the relays.
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Those race will be much-watch TV, too, and the entertainment factor looms large at these crowd-less Games.
People at home still want to see higher, faster, stronger.
The next question is always how far do you go to achieve it?
The sleek track serves as a counterbalance to the insufferable heat during competition. The high temperatures bake the surface and actually assists performance.
Don’t disregard what the athletes are wearing on their feet, too.
Is it coincidence 100m champs Lamont Marcell Jacobs and Elaine Thompson-Herah both donned the new Nike Air Zoom Maxfly spikes in their big moment?
The company invested more than a half-decade of know-how and millions in research to boost speed and knock off time fragments. The kicks were produced in the same vein as the much-discussed Vaporfly, which used carbon-plated tech to start knocking off minutes off distance running times.
When you start a conversation on super shoes, it always leads back to the notion of fair play. Is this like designing a hockey stick to shoot the puck faster or is it more akin to a pitcher greasing up a ball for better spin rate and more strikeouts?
Thompson-Herah had her own view on all the fast times after running 10.61 seconds to break Florence Griffith Joyner’s long-standing Olympic 100-metre record.
“My training,” she told the Associated Press. “Doesn’t matter the track or the shoes.”
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