World Athletics Official Supplier Mondo
World Athletics and its Official Supplier Mondo are delighted to reveal a new range of cutting-edge equipment designs, which will be introduced this year.
Inspired by the innovative light show used in event presentation at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 and World Athletics’ new brand identity, Mondo has redesigned all of the equipment that is used in the elite competition arena – from lane markers and hurdles to landing mats and implement trolleys.
World Athletics and Mondo technicians worked together to take their 34-year partnership to a new level, giving the equipment a major makeover, combining technology and design components while maintaining maximum reliability, comfort and safety for both athletes and technical officials.
The equipment will have its first workout at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Tokyo on Sunday (May 9).
The new range will incorporate the lines and colours of the federation's new logo for World Athletics Series events, and will completely revamp the look of the arena for both indoor and outdoor international competition. The outcome is both modern and dynamic.
For the first time both the track and the equipment will be lit up, creating additional movement during the races, as if the track itself were actively participating in the competition with the athletes.
The new equipment features integrated LED technology, with devices on individual pieces of equipment that light up and adapt to developments in the race.
The lights have been designed to enhance the spectacle for fans, whether they are in the stadium or at home, and also to focus their attention on different parts of the track and field when key moments and special performances are taking place.
They will help the audience to navigate through the complexity of athletics competition when several events are happening simultaneously in the stadium, by drawing attention and giving information.
The technology is able to produce a range of coloured lights to provide different information, for example, gold, silver and bronze to indicate the placings of athletes, or red and green for successful and failed attempts in the field.
The vertical uprights used in the pole vault will have vertical LED stripes that can display information on the validity of the jumps or announce new records.
The lane markers will show more than numbers. They will be able to display images, animation or videos during the event presentation, and can also indicate disqualifications, all operated from a touch screen computer.
“Athletics is undergoing a revolution, both in design and in the integration of technology. This is a demanding sport that always requires the highest quality, which is why we at Mondo are so proud to have worked alongside World Athletics to redesign the equipment that will mark the future of athletics,” said Ignacio Mercado, Director of Mondo Iberica's Sports Equipment Division.
World Athletics Competition Director Jakob Larsen added: “World Athletics is excited to showcase the new Mondo range of sports equipment which was created with the objective of innovating and incorporating the new brand of World Athletics. The collaboration between World Athletics Competition, Brand, Event Presentation and Mondo brought this amazing range of innovative design to life which we are pleased to share with the athletics world.”
The new range includes more than 30 completely redesigned products, including the iconic lane marker cones, hurdles, drop zones, high jump and pole vault stands and athlete benches.
New techniques, such as rotational moulding, have also been applied to the production of the equipment itself.
The design includes sections in the new colours of World Athletics, which will remain unchanged to reinforce the new brand identity of the federation, and sections that can be customised with the look of the different events.
The new World Athletics line of sports equipment will be provided and showcased by World Athletics at the World Athletics Indoor and Outdoor Championships and made available for the other World Athletics Series events.
The new equipment will be used for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, where the Mondotrack WS track has also been installed.
In March 2022, the equipment will be used at the 18th World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, and in July 2022 at the 18th World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
World Athletics