Seven official national records from European teams at the World Athletics Relays earlier this month confirmed the fact that the track in Chorzow’s Slaski Stadium is quick and it would be no surprise if there were more superlatives this coming weekend at the Silesia 2021 European Athletics Team Championships Super League.
This year’s competition brings together seven competing Member Federations in the revised format: France, Germany, Great Britain and Norther Ireland, Italy, hosts and defending champions Poland, Portugal and Spain.
All these countries named will all be battling for the honour of being the winner of the world’s premier team competition between nations, at a venue with a surface installed by European Athletics Partner Mondo.
Also in sight, in addition to national records and some European-leading marks, could be a number of European Athletics Team Championships championship records, not least in the men’s javelin, in a stadium
The current mark stands at 88.27m to Finland’s Tero Pitkämäki from the 2017 First League. It is a prodigious distance in itself but Germany’s Johannes Vetter has thrown well over 90 metres in his last four outings in the last five weeks and will be targeting not only Pitkämäki’s championship record but also equalling the feat of world record holder Jan Zelezny who threw over 90 metres in five consecutive meetings back in 1995.
Vetter is certainly feels at home in the Slaski Stadium judging from his two spectacular performances there last summer.
In his first appearance ever in the stadium on 25 August last year, at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial meeting, the 2017 world champion and European Athlete of the Year twice threw 90 metres or better at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver Meeting and finished with a winning distance of 90.86m.
On his return less than two weeks later, this time for the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial on 6 September, Vetter added more than three metres to his lifetime best and German national record when he launched his implement out to a massive 97.76m in the third round.
It was the second longest throw in history with the current specification and for good measure in the next round he had another outstanding effort which was measured at 94.84m, a mark which has only ever been surpassed by Zelezny and Vetter himself.
The Slaski Stadium has a Mondo Sportflex Super X 720 track that was laid down in 2017, which has features similar to other Mondo surfaces which were used for the last two World Athletics Championships as well as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Common attributes include the same backing track with hexagonal air cells deform in three dimensions to guarantee an unparalleled combination of shock absorption, energy storage and return which reduces an athlete’s fatigue and risk injury.
Like all Mondo track surfaces, the Sportflex Super X 720 has GREENGUARD and GREENGUARD Gold certification, making it arguably the most environmentally friendly and sustainable track available on the market for stadium architects and managers.
In addition, many of the world’s javelin throwers have a preference for Mondo surfaces.
“As an athlete we look for a track that delivers a really good performance, good power and the grip that we [as javelin throwers] need to get the block down there. I am really happy we found this with a Mondo track,” commented Vetter’s compatriot, the 2016 Olympic Games and 2018 European champion Thomas Rohler recently.
Later this summer, in July, the European Athletics U23 and U20 Championships will both be held in Tallinn’s Kadriorg Stadium which can also boast of a Mondo surface while the Olympic Games in Tokyo will continue a streak which stretches back to 1992 with the Games’ main athletics stadium having a Mondo track.