Athletics: Certificates and guidelines

Track and field events require certified surfaces and must orient themselves to further guidelines that also affect the stadium infrastructure. A current push will open up the existing indoor facilities for creative as well as cost-effective formats.

The World Athletics federation (in short: World Athletics) formulates a specific catalogue of requirements for the infrastructure of all competition classes. In athletics, with its many disciplines and extensive mobile and stationary sports equipment, an almost unmanageable wealth of details is described. And the higher the level of competition, the higher the demands on the precision of markings and fixtures. At the same time, the competition facilities of international championships and meetings are larger, and warm-up facilities must also be available here. To achieve worldwide infrastructural consistency and thus ensure fair competition in which fractions of a second correspond to the same distances on all lanes, WA issues certificates above and beyond the national federation guidelines and construction standards.

For the top level, the certifications Class 1 and Class 2 apply for outdoor facilities and, of course, a separate certificate for indoor events. A Class 1 facility not only has the full infrastructure for all sports – some areas are also duplicated. WA describes all this in detail in the “Track and Field Facilities Manual”. The first part contains all the information on the infrastructure of a facility. It describes the use of the facility, the typologies according to the number of lanes, the arrangement of disciplines and warm-up areas, lengths, radii, markings, irrigation and drainage, et cetera, as well as the basic construction aspects to be considered in the infrastructure for each individual discipline, and of course the surfaces for athletics running tracks in all their variations.

The second part regulates other very important aspects, such as changing rooms, first aid, VIP areas, press rooms, access tunnels, lighting, measurements, scoreboards, noise levels, etc. It also includes extremely important advice on equipment, such as hurdles, mats, starting blocks, equipment for high jump, pole vault, javelin, discus and hammer throw, etc. Another chapter explains the suggested maintenance for synthetic surfaces in their possible variations in sports facilities and the repair, for example by retoppings for athletics tracks. One section deals specifically with indoor facilities. Incidentally, the current indoor regulations are about to undergo a significant reform that will enable athletics to offer attractive formats and will also allow locations with weaker infrastructures to establish their place on the map permanently or temporarily. (STADIAWORLD, 04.09.2023)