The UK-based company of Hong Kong-born Alvina Chen, a former professional sprinter, has developed what’s been dubbed the world’s first “smart” running track, according to multiple media reports. Chen says her track could help athletes run 100 metres in under nine seconds – a feat previously deemed impossible.
“We have the world’s fastest running surface,” Chen, 30, told UK newspaper the Telegraph. “There is the potential for early nine seconds if not sub nine seconds for a human.” The current 9.58 second record was set by Britain’s Usain Bolt at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
Chen established her sports-tech company, Feldspar, in 2022. With a multidisciplinary team of experts, the young CEO spent almost three years developing its flagship modular track, which has a rubber and composite top surface. Feldspar believes it now could be the “world’s fastest running track.”
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Tests have indicated that the new surface returns 90 percent of the energy a runner naturally produces, compared to the roughly 70 percent returned by tracks being used at high-profile sporting events today. The Feldspar track also contains sensors that provide valuable real-time data: speed, stride length, foot placement and acceleration rate, along with horizontal, vertical and lateral forces.
Chen has said she would like to see Feldspar’s track “become the universal standard all over the world.” The company is reportedly in talks with World Athletics, the international governing body for athletics sports including track and field events, about a potential deal.
Being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG), an autoimmune disease causing severe muscle weakness, helped motivate Chen to build an innovative new running surface for fellow athletes. She previously spent almost a decade competing in races in Hong Kong, the UK and the US.
