It is already history now: the European Athletics Championships in Berlin 2018. But we will remember it for a long time to come. The atmosphere in the Olympic stadium was fantastic. The European Mile on Breitscheidplatz in City West was a real highlight. The audience was great. The athletes were raring to go. Even the weather couldn’t have been better. The last day of the competition made for a wonderful finale – with our brand ambassador Tatjana Pinto picking up another medal. She won bronze in the German 4×100-metre women’s relay – together with Lisa-Marie Kwayie, Gina Lückenkemper and Rebekka Haase. This makes Tatjana Pinto one of the most successful German track and field athletes ever.
Pinto and her fast track to becoming a successful sprinter
Optimal training – a Tartan track with SmarTracks
But success must be earned, as they say. In other words, this means hard training. Tatjana Pinto is currently coached by Thomas Prange, the 1996 German Junior Champion in the 100-metre sprint and later a successful pilot in the 4-man bobsleigh. An integral part of her training programme is our SmarTracks system, which is not only suitable for synthetic turf but also for running tracks and, in addition to performance diagnostics, also enables precise time measurement. Running time, speed, step length, step frequency and step height are recorded. SmarTracks is therefore not only suitable for classic running disciplines like short, medium and long-distance runs, hurdles and relay races, but also with long jump or pole vault. The system helps to record essential parameters and to improve them through targeted training. It is likewise suitable for team sports like football, rugby or hockey. Here, SmarTracks enables the automated execution of agility tests, such as measuring sprinting ability and dynamics when changing direction. However, it also allows measurement of ability to jump and much more.
POLYTAN NEWSLETTER
SmarTracks – Sprinter Tatjana Pinto appreciates the direct feedback
The optimum track surface – relatively hard and colourful
It goes without saying, of course, that the condition and quality of the athletics track also play a decisive role. Speaking of track surfaces – which does Tatjana Pinto prefer? Clearly one that is relatively hard and has as little give as possible, such as our Rekortan PUR and Tartan GOLD tracks . The fact that these have been increasingly coloured for some years now makes no difference to Pinto – purely from a sporting point of view. “Nevertheless, it’s a nice change to see other colours like blue instead of the usual red.” And it is exactly this colour that adorns the synthetic track at the Berlin Olympic Stadium, where Tatjana Pinto sprinted to third place with the relay team.
European Athletics Championships: the audience as an important component of success
