Endurance, Precision and Speed: The Making of a Class 1 Diamond League Track
Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat, Morocco
In the run up to the second event of the 2023 Diamond League athletics season at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, all eyes were on the fastest two men on the planet. Unfortunately, the anticipated battle for 100m glory between Olympic Champion, Marcell Jacobs and USA’s reigning World Champion, Fred Kerley did not eventuate after the Italian was forced to pull out.
However, Kerley still treated the 50,000-seater stadium to a 9.94 second meeting record, and the Class 1 World Athletics Certified Rekortan M track remained the stage for many World Class performances.
New records were set on Rabat’s Rekortan M track
Home fans witnessed local favourite, Soufiane El Bakkali, clinch a PB, meeting record and world lead of 7:56:68 in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. World Champion Sherika Jackson (JAM) who set the second-fastest time in history at the Oregon22 World Championships, crossed the line with a meeting record of 21.98. Olympic gold medallist and record holder, Jakob Ingebrigsten (NOR), maintained his dominance with a win in the men’s 1,500m and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay set a World lead and meeting record of 3.54.03 in the women’s race.
An untold track record
One of the lesser-known heroes of the International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat meeting, is Oliver Supper.
A gold-standard architect rather than an athlete, Oliver was responsible for leading the track installation at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, which is the first and only Diamond League track in Africa.
We took the opportunity to talk to him about the feat of endurance, precision and speed that was the making of the track that has gone on to stage so many outstanding Diamond League performances.
“I have delivered more than 60 tracks since my first one in Rabat but this one still holds the record in terms of size.”
On the pressure of delivering Africa’s first Diamond League track…
I arrived at Polytan in February 2016 and the Rabat stadium track was the first installation I led just a month later. I have not done a bigger one since. The job came with a lot of pressure as it was the first time the venue would host a Diamond League event and we only had four weeks to install the surface and meet the exacting World Athletics Class 1 Certification standards.
The Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme also had a long and prestigious history that we needed to uphold. Dating back to 2008 when it was first established, it had become one of the most celebrated track and field meetings in Africa attracting World-Class athletes from around the globe. Expectations were understandably high.
On endurance and team work…
Athletics may be a predominantly individual sport but the delivery of a track is a huge team effort. Our highly-skilled Moroccan installation partner, Coter, delivered all the civil works including the removal of the old track and the new asphalt installation. They also laid the natural grass soccer field in the middle of the track which made our job trickier as it is crucial that you do not allow any water to leak onto the track during the installation.
Due to the ambitious timeframe, we sent five crews (18 people in total) to get the job done. It was a gruelling schedule - we worked from sunrise to sunset.
On speed and precision…
The stadium is one of the biggest track stadiums in the world and where 7,000m2 is standard for an 8-lane track, due to the enlarged surround, we had to cover a total of 11,000m2.
So the track was massive, the Class 1 standards exacting and the time was very limited.
Although we had ten weeks to deliver the whole project, the actual track had to be installed in just 4 weeks and the World Athletics (then IAAF) certification was only received a few days before the event. I was on-site during the testing and the pressure of knowing it had to pass was high. The fact it did was a feat of endurance, speed and precision.
On the unique colors…
The track has a unique two-colour design; the track itself is red and the outside area is green and red to match the colours of the Moroccan flag.
The two-colours put even more pressure on the deadline because the joins need to be placed under the line-marking which is challenging and time-consuming. But we did it and the stadium, with the matching seat colors, looks fantastic.
On his track record 7 years later…
I have delivered more than 60 tracks since my first one in Rabat but this one still holds the record in terms of size.
As Polytan’s Team Leader for International Operations, I am responsible for all our site managers in the EMEA region (excluding DACH region) as well as 16 crews across both turf and track. This has taken me around Europe and as far as Russia and Iran.
Our experienced installation partner, Coter, who we worked with for this job has gone on to deliver many other projects with us including smaller tracks and football turfs. It is fair to say that we had our biggest race first, and I am very proud of what we achieved.