Balázs Németh, CEO and Balázs Baji, hurdler rolled the MONDO-type rubber surface at the National Athletics Centre (© Balogh Dániel)
The track is being built, and under the guidance of Balázs Baji, construction work has begun on the MONDO-type surface at the National Athletics Centre, where the superheroes of athletics will amaze us with their supreme performances between 19 and 27 August 2023. The builders also surprised Balázs Baji with a special gift.
With less than 300 days to go, work is already in full swing on the National Athletics Centre, the home of next year's World Athletics Championships in Budapest, and the surrounding green grove that will serve as a public sports and leisure centre after the event.
A footbridge linking the warm-up area to the stadium has recently been completed. Mobile stands allowing up to 35,000 people to cheer on site are already under construction. The turf is also in its place, where javelins, hammers and discuses will fly at distances never seen before in Hungary. The rows of red and white seats on the north side of the stadium have also started to appear in increasing numbers.
Just as important for the athletes, the covering of the warm-up track inside the bulding is now complete and work has started on the race track. The laying of the 14,000 square metres of Italian MONDO rubber covering, consisting of 700 elements, will take around 2,400 man-hours.
Balázs Németh, CEO of Budapest 2023 Zrt., and Balázs Baji, world championship bronze medalist hurdler and member of the Local Organising Committee, rolled the first metres and then tested the track.
“The World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 will be the biggest sporting event of the year from 19 to 27 August 2023, with more than a billion spectators around the world. It is a great pleasure and a pride to be able to showcase Hungary, its magnificent historic capital and the new National Athletics Centre, which will be completed in time for the event, to this huge audience on the spot and through the broadcasts. This exceptional event will also require exceptional conditions, so I am sure that athletics' superheroes will be able to compete in the best possible conditions and achieve great success and records, partly thanks to the exceptional quality of the competition track" - said Balázs Németh about the event.
Balázs Baji received a heartfelt gesture: MONDO presented him with a hurdle bar from the World Athletics Championships London 2017, where he won bronze and achieved the greatest success of his life, and where he actually competed over this hurdle.
This is the 13th time in the history of the World Athletics Championships since 1983 that the organisers have chosen the MONDO cover, which is considered to be extremely fast. It was also the track on which the world's top athletes ran at the Tokyo Olympics.
Both events saw several world records: In Tokyo, Sydney McLaughlin broke the women's 400m hurdles world record and Karsten Warholm the men's.
The red carpet of world records will not let anyone down in Budapest!
