The “super track” that could help athletes run 100m in less than nine seconds

Credit: feldspath

The 100 meters in less than nine seconds?

It was a border of human evolution which was regularly debated between 2008 and 2016, when Usain Bolt redefined a sport. A scientific study located the year 2068. Another, a company for world athletics, concluded that 9.27 seconds represented the limit of humanity performance.

No one has approached the Bolt 9.58 mark in the intermediate years but, in a laboratory right next to the A428 near Cambridge, there is a belief that the supposed impossible has suddenly become very possible.

“There is the potential for the start of nine seconds, if not less than nine seconds for a human,” explains Alvina Chen, a Sprinter of Hong Kong, who has become an entrepreneur who, after almost three years, with a team of British experts through physics, mathematics, electrical genius and mechanics, chemistry and manufacturing, supervised the first digital track in the world.

Not only can its sensors provide a series of real -time data that would be transformative for athletes, coaches, fans and the media, but early tests have indicated an energy efficiency which is some 20% higher than the existing tracks.

“We see how racing shoes have evolved a lot, training methods and nutrition … But something that has not changed roughly is the surface of the track – which has not changed for 60 years, compared to the 1968 Olympic Games,” explains Chen, who is the founder and general manager of Feldspar.

“We believe that we create the first major progress. With our track, we plan that it will be 20% faster than the Olympic track in Paris, according to the capacity of athletes and external conditions. Our vision is that the track becomes the universal standard of the whole world. We have the fastest race surface in the world.”

Darren Campbell, who is the chief of sprints and relays at British Athletics, joined Feldspath last year and, after monitoring young sprinters on the track, estimates that the advantages can be huge. Campbell’s eyes also come on to the idea of ​​what it could mean more broadly for athletics; A sport with a world history so rich but often stuck in its amateur roots. Instant data fed by AI which could be downloaded directly on the cloud so that everyone can see them include speed, stride length, feet placement, acceleration rate, horizontal, vertical and lateral forces as well as the flight time.

“You can flee the technology … and stay at the ages of darkness, or you can adopt the change,” he said. “We are entering an era when technology is at the forefront of each sport. When you start trying to dive into athletics, you will have to educate them and bring them on a trip.

“I have always watched Formula 1, but now I can see how it is easier for someone to get started because there is so much data. One of the only sports where I would go: “Where is the technology?” It would be athletics.

What is described as “positive conferences” has already taken place with the world athletics on the potential “Super Track” of Feldspath.

Credit: feldspath

The day of Telegraph Sport Visit to Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP), the track was tested by Uzoh Herbert and Callia Downey, two young leading British athletes. Teddy Wilson and Renee Regis sprinters have also been working with Cambridge scientists and inventors since last year.

“The difference is frightening – it’s revolutionary,” explains Herbert. “I did up to 50 races today and I am able to continue. It’s so soft and responsive – you get an instantaneous thrust. ” Downey nods. “You keep your shape and pour more, losing less energy,” she says.

There is also an invitation for Telegraph Sport To try the track. Adjacent is a surface strip which has been the enhancement of athletics since the late 1960s and the difference is striking. There is significantly less impact through the body and a rebound before effortless. This instantly reminds me of the contrast between standard racing coaches and carbon -reinforced “super shoes” that have revolutionized the distance and are often described as colors on clouds.

So how is the track so fast? The vision began with Chen who, after having short-circuited his own sprint career by autoimmune disease, Myasthenia Gravis, began to present various design engineering companies. It was refused by more than 10 – “They said it was too difficult and could not be done” – before Cambridge scientists accept the challenge. They have since produced and tested 50 different iterations of the track. “All that science and engineering have to offer were launched in it,” said Karlheinz Lamprecht, CPD principal. “We have a gain of 20% in energy efficiency in a world where two to four percent make a big difference. If you would drop an element on our track, it would not come back directly, it would actually advance. It converts the force to the bottom into a movement forward.”

The athletics tracks have gone to cook with the rubber structure largely in rubber now and, although there is an hesitation in listing all the materials used, Lamprecht provides a outline. The upper surface is “in rubber and composite”, using what it calls a “natural material that is used in ranges of shooting to catch balls” and mining to protect metal containers. There is then the very important incorporative overhang system, which actively helps to translate downward energy into a front momentum. Here, there are recycled printed circuits, which are generally made with thermoducated resins and glass fibers, to which you can add sensors. The bases of the track are clever by CNC from blocks of polyurethane resin models. Various metals, acrylics and fibers have been tested with all forms in order to develop a structure that has made the best energy to the athlete. Prototypes without inclined cantileu system have also been produced.

It is underlined that no “new” energy is artificially created and, according to their tests, the structure will send 90% of what a runner naturally produced compared to around 70% today.

Credit: feldspath

“It is the law of thermodynamics,” explains Lamprecht. “Energy is not created. There is no energy that happens through a cable. This is all the energy that athletes have put. ”

And is it fair? “These are the same conditions for everyone,” says Lamprecht. “With the existing track, each Olympic Games, they evolve. Energy improvements are around one to two percent. The Paris track is around one to two percent better than that of Tokyo. How is it just to compare Paris to Tokyo?”

Chen adds: “Not everyone can afford carbon -plated shoes. With the floor covering, everyone can run on it and it’s a playground.”

Another key feature is that the track is modular, which means that it is available in pieces which can be transported and placed almost anywhere, above an existing track in the street or even through a frozen lake.

All this means that, although discussions continue with the global athletics of the specifications required, there would be nothing to stop the unofficial attempts of the world record of the “special category” in the same vein of the first marathon less than two hours of Eliud Kipchoge.

This would certainly arouse enormous interest, thoughts already extending to fascinating data and precision that could also be used in the field and endurance events, as well as other sports.

Campbell, who was an Olympic, European and Commonwealth champion, does not think that a potential rewriting of athletics records is a reason to resist progress. “To a certain extent, your files remember your files, but, in our sport, I think you will remember more and respected by the medals you make,” he says.

After developing what is currently a 20 -meter prototype, Campbell would also love access to 100 m right from the “Super Track” on which British athletes could train and be tested.

The leading athletes have long been evaluated on stationary plates – which each cost around £ 50,000 – and they can now also use camera and video technology to collect biomechanical data. But there are holes in the information, especially around the forces that are generated in the soil, as well as the delay in feedback.

The discussions between Campbell and his colleagues coaches left them extremely enthusiastic about the possibilities, in particular around the early identification of the risks of injury which would probably appear in subtle changes in the usual race of an athlete. “We will obtain the digital imprint of the functioning of each athlete,” he says.

Credit: feldspath

At a time when sport is trying to organize more events – and regularly stretch the season – the advantages of a surface that seems less impactful on the body are also obvious.

“We had these guys there all day and no one complains of fatigue,” explains Campbell, pointing to Downing and Herbert. He also wonders openly if the properties of the track could move the balance of what matters in the leak of raw power to technique, rhythm and relaxation.

Campbell says that “survival” training (getting used to getting used to higher steps) has a huge training value in itself and, with track data, it can already consider creating prototypes for the “perfect” technical race for different weights, heights and sexes of athletes.

“At each stage, everything I hoped would happen,” said Campbell, who became director of the Feldspath world track strategy alongside his work with British Athletics, where he supervised medals in the five Sprint relays in Paris. “I want to leave an appropriate heritage at British Athletic [the Olympics in 2028]Everything will make sense with regard to what we are trying to do here. I want to make our largest athletes in the world. This is an opportunity to change athletics forever. »»