300 WORLD RECORDS & COUNTING

The 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, held at the Commonwealth Arena in Glasgow in March, marked a significant landmark for Mondo, the specialist athletics track manufacturer

When Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas broke the 60m hurdles world record at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow this March, she also created another landmark statistic. It was the 300th world record to have been broken on an athletics track produced by Mondo. It was in 1972 when the Italian 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 clocked a time of 1:21.50. Now, 299 world records later, the company is regarded as the best in its own field, tasked with providing athletes with tracks that produce premium performances at some of the world’s greatest sporting events. Later this year, a Mondo track will host athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Paris 2024

Based in Alba in the northwest of Italy, Mondo has partnered with World Athletics since 1987. It is now in the process of producing the 17,000sq m track for the Paris 2024. It will have a striking design – the host city requested that the track should 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.

The most impressive aspect of the track, however, is what makes Mondo the preferred choice of so many elite events: its ability to provide a comfortable experience for athletes, while still allowing record-breaking performances. At 42% shock absorption, the track provided for Glasgow 2024 was Mondo’s softest ever for a major event. Yet, it produced overwhelmingly fast results, proving that to achieve speed, a track doesn’t need to be hard.

“Mondo definitely isn’t fast because it is hard,” says Maurizio Stroppiana, vice president of sports at Mondo. “Mondo is super soft and super fast.

“We measure the quality of our work from athletes’ personal bests. 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.”

Before the 2024 Olympic Games, athletes will have the opportunity test another Mondo track at the European Championships in Rome, Italy, which will be held from 7 to 12 June.