The series, which brings together the best professional indoor athletics competitions - despite the restrictions and limitations due to the Covid-19 pandemic - has been able to boast an expanded calendar thanks to the introduction of three levels of competition: Gold, Silver and Bronze.
A dense programme and many disciplines in which MONDO tracks have served as the competition grounds: and it is here that the athletes have achieved important results, able to count on their preparation and on an athletics surface that, for years, has known how to respond to their needs, and to translate those needs into performance and comfort.
It was a record, on 9th February, that saw the opening of the second leg of the Gold Series, at the Arena Stade Couvert in Liévin where a MONDO hydraulic banking athletics track is installed. Here Gudaf Tsegay finished the race with an incredible 3.53.09 in the 1500 m, setting a new world record. The event was also enlivened by the 1500 m European record of the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen and other important results in the 3000 m and the long jumps. Overall, Liévin was the Gold event with the highest ever score (47.424) for a one-day indoor competition.
On 13th February at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in New York, another Gold venue for indoor athletics which is equipped with MONDO's variable banking track, Donavan Brazier opened his season by winning the 800 m in 1.44.21, exactly 0.01 off his previous American indoor record. Adding to the list of outstanding times were: Oliver Hoare, who won the 1500 m and beat Stewart McSweyn's previous record by three seconds; and Bryce Hoppel, who stood out in the 1000 m with a 2.16.27.
Per le due miglia femminili è stata invece Elle Purrier a lasciare un segno, conquistando l’incredibile tempo di 9.10.28 e guadagnandosi il titolo di terza donna più veloce della storia per la distanza.
In the women's two-mile race, Elle Purrier made her mark, clocking an incredible time of 9.10.28 to become the third fastest woman in history for the distance.
At the penultimate Gold meeting, on 17th February at the Arena Torun in Poland, Elliot Giles took the title of the second-fastest in the history of the indoor 800 m. The athlete crossed the line with a time of 1.43.63, accelerating on the final stretch of the MONDO elevated athletics track and winning the race.
Following him with exceptional times was athlete Jamie Webb in the 800m, not only coming second but also setting a great PB of 1.44.54, ranking ninth on the list of all indoor times in the WORLD.
At the end of the Madrid series, on 24th February, there was an incredible finish by Grant Holloway on the athletics track. The American athlete won a world record in the 60 m hurdles, setting a new best time of just 7"29, exactly one hundredth of a second better than the previous record holder, Colin Jackson.
Again, another event occurred on a permanent elevated track created by MONDO.
The start of the World Athletics Indoor Tour on 24th January couldn't have been more promising: right from this first stop at the Randal Tyson Indoor Center in Fayetteville, the MONDO track and field team flanked the athletes and witnessed an exciting opening event.
The opening of the track was marked by the incredible result of Olympic champion Ryan Crouser, who set a world record in the shot put with 22.82m.
There were also excellent results in the other disciplines, with a great comeback by Trayvon Bromell who, after years of injury, dominated the race by running the 60m in 6.48: just 0.1 seconds off his personal best.
The magic continued at the next stage on 2nd February, this time in the high jump at the Športová hala Dukla in Banská Bystrica: here, the super young Ukrainian athlete Yaroslava Mahuchikh set a national record - and the third highest indoor performance ever - on the MONDO portable track, jumping 2.06 m on her first attempt.
And a few days later, at the Meeting Metz Moselle Athlelor - another Silver Series meeting - it was Selemon Barega who excelled in the 1500 m, clocking a time of 3.34.62 and setting one of the best performances of his young but already impressive career.
The successes continued over the next few days, when many athletes pushed themselves to the limit on the MONDO tracks at the Atlas Arena in Łódź, the Topsporthal Vlaanderen in Gent and the Coque Sport Center in Kirchberg. At these important stages of the Bronze series, the swathe of PBs and top performances was extended, such as the case of Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, who set the second fastest performance of the year by winning the 600 m.
Same story, different occasion for middle-distance runner Gudaf Tsegay who, just five days after winning her world record in the 1500 m, returned to the spotlight at the Meeting de l'Eure in Val-de-Reuil, France.
Here the athlete set an outstanding time of 1.57.52 and entered the top 10 times (9th place to be precise) in the 800 m times.
The World Athletics Indoor Tour ended on 27th February in Aubiére on the Sportflex Super X track. In the same venue a few days earlier, on 16th February, Hugues Fabrice Zango cleared an astonishing 18.07 m in the men's triple jump.
By the end of the World Indoor Tour circuit events, 11 winning athletes had secured a place at the next World Athletics Indoor Championships 2022 in Belgrade, as well as a prize of $10,000. So, the World Athletics Indoor Tour has come to a close for 2021 amidst exciting records and a great deal of satisfaction.
This brings the total number of records broken on MONDO tracks since 1972 to 289.