Explainer: The tech behind Tokyo Olympics’ fast track

Competitors start in their heat of the men’s 100-meters with empty seats as a backdrop in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Tokyo. It’s shaping up as a fast track surface at Olympic Stadium. — AP

TOKYO: The Jamaican sprinter and her Olympic-record time captured everyone’s attention. What’s under foot, though, might have been a factor when Elaine Thompson-Herah broke a 33-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 100 meters.

It’s shaping up as a fast track surface at Olympic Stadium. Runners are certainly on track to setting personal, Olympic and possibly even world-record times over the next week at the Tokyo Games.