The Mondo SSX720 is the world’s fastest treadmill

A piece of the world’s current fastest running platform feels very supple in the hands. When you jump on it, the shock absorption of the landing is noticeable.

Three world records and one Finnish record were set last week on the Italian SSX720 mondo platform. SSX720 is a mixture of synthetic and natural rubber.

– In the new platform, the shock absorption is higher and the sole pattern is different. Before, there was a so-called honeycomb pattern, until starting in 2015, a diamond-based pattern was added. It gives more speed and resilience, says the CEO of Spesifix Oy, which imports mondo platforms to Finland Paul Nieminen.

In the Diamond League of Paris last week, Ethiopia Lamecha Girman scored in the 3,000m hurdles (7:52.11), Norway Jakob Ingebrigtsen with two miles (7.54.10) and Kenyan Faith Kipyegon new world records in women’s 5,000 meters (14:05,20).

Last Sunday in Leppävaara, Espoo Samuli Samuelsson broke the Finnish record for 100 meters (10.16).

Mondo athletic field engineer Andrea Vallauri has estimated that the novelty platform improves performance by 1–2 percent on running distances.

– The new Mondo is not necessarily faster than the old one, because the old one was harder. But the new one is much more elastic due to the patterning of the sole, air bubbles and softness – this is especially useful in hurdles and steeplechase, says Nieminen.

ME times for women’s and men’s 400-meter hurdles and women’s 100-meter hurdles have been made on new generation platforms.

– I have never run on such a fast and elastic track, comments Nigeria, who achieved the women’s 100m hurdles ME 12.12 last season at the World Championships in Eugene Tobi Amusan.

On Eugene’s field is the BSS-2000 platform of Mondo’s competitor.

A significant change

Nieminen grabs a sample of the 1996 mondo. It snaps off easily.

– Today’s Mondo is much more flexible and elastic, says Nieminen.

The rules of athletics changed in the 2020s so that the minimum shock absorption percentage of platforms increased from 25 to thirty-five.

In general, the elasticity percentage on new tracks is 39–41.

Runners compete on a 13.5-millimeter-thick platform, which is glued on waterproof asphalt in outdoor stadiums and on concrete in indoor halls. 1.8–2 kg of glue is needed per square meter, so 16–17 tons of glue are needed for one athletic field.

It started from grass

Iltalehti’s athletics expert Arto Bryggare remembers that the first competition platform in athletics was grass, until they switched to coal and crushed bricks.

– In Turku, a little oil was illegally added to make the crushed stone a little firmer. It was one of the fastest crushing tracks in the world, says Bryggare.

– A runner had to work a lot more with gravel, an ex-padder who trained with gravel a lot in his junior years.

At the end of the 1960s, new polyurethane platforms were introduced.

– They were first tested in galloping competitions on horses. We wanted more even and stable conditions, because the variation on the gravel courses was very large. The transition was really significant because the results improved drastically.

Many remember the word tartan from the polyurethane era. Tartan was one brand, but the name survived and many still call polyurethane fields tartan fields.

The first Mondos were drawn at the end of the 1980s, and in the 2000s similar platforms have become so common that only very few places sport “tartan”.

Fiasco in Tokyo

At the Tokyo Olympics 2021, in the men’s javelin competition, the platform failed the number one thrower at the time Johannes Vetter from below.

The new Mondo was too soft and slippery for the more than 100-kilogram javelinas.

– After Tokyo, a 20-millimeter-thick platform has been placed on many fields for the javelin, long and high jumps, Nieminen says.

Mondo is currently developing a new platform. According to Nieminen, it will be on the market in two years and it should be even better at generating results than the SSX720.