If you run in a stadium, you probably know the length of the first inner track, but there are four to eight tracks on the track. How long are they? What are the stadium measurement requirements, and do all stadiums have the standard 200 and 400 meters?

What kind of stadiums are there?
A stadium is not just a track and field concept. A runner thinks of a circular track and a soccer player of a green field with a goal on both sides. Most often the stadiums for these two sports are combined, but there are also facilities designed either only for athletics or only for soccer.

Indoor facilities for hockey, figure skating and volleyball are commonly referred to as arenas.

What is the length of a running track
Traditionally, an outdoor running track at a stadium has a length of 400 m, while indoors runners train on a track of 200 m. The answer as to why this is the case is quite simple: in order to run a 400-meter lap, a huge arena would have to be erected. That’s why during the winter season track and field athletes, when training and competing, limit themselves to 200 meters.

How length is measured
The shortest (inside) track is always taken as the basis for the length of a track. It is either 400 or 200 meters. It will be measured along a line 30cm from the inside edge. All subsequent paths are measured along the same line, but separated from the inside edge by 20 cm.

At the same time, the length of the track when measured should be slightly less than the calculated length. For one lap, the difference should be 1.88 m, and it does not depend on the total length of the lap. For example, for a 400-meter track, the measurement along the edge will be 398.12 m.

When the stadiums are accepted, the track is measured with metal measuring tapes or tape measures of centimetre division. On bends, the tape is placed on the rib.

Why 200 and 400 m?
First, a few historical facts. The dimensions of the original Olympic stadium in the Greek city of Olympia were 212.54 m long and 30 to 34 m wide. The start was given on the east side of the stadium and the finish was at 192.27 meters on the west side. At that time, there were no events that covered a full lap, so the small size of the stadium with sharp curves was not a problem back then.

Well, the standard of 400 and 200 meters is not backed by history. It appeared relatively recently. There were 500-meter tracks at the Olympic Games in the early 20th century. In his autobiography “No Bugles, No Drums”, three-time Olympic champion Peter Snell talks about winning the 800 m on a 500 m track, so such tracks must have existed at least until the late 1950s.

Another example: in 1951 Emil Zatopek set a world record in the 20,000 meters (59:51.8) on a track that, oddly enough, was only 363.78 meters long.

There is nothing mythical about the fact that a classic track is only 400 m long. Such dimensions were dictated by the standard soccer field, around which the track usually runs. As for the size of the track in the track and field arena, in this case the figure was determined based on the convenience of construction and counting.

There is also a version of the measure of length in ancient systems. Thus, the Babylonian “stadium” was equal to 195 m, and the stadium system of the pharaohs – 209 m. There are several other values of stadia: from 172.5 m to 230.4 m – but what exactly was used to measure the distance in the Olympic Games, exactly not known. Some scientists equate the Olympic stage with 192.27 m.

How many lanes in the stadium.
According to the standards of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the stadium must have 6 to 9 tracks. A smaller number is also allowed, but no less than four. For the Olympics or World Championships a tenth lane may be added.

It would seem that why regulate the number of lanes? However, it is undesirable to design more than nine, because the resulting larger bend radius gives an advantage in the 200 m run. Even the records for this distance are recorded with a bend radius of no more than 50 m.

Read on: 14 rules for running in the stadium

In the arena, where the length of the inner track is 200 m, there should be 4-6 tracks with radii of turns from 11 to 21 m.

Running track parameters
Length

In the arena, each successive track is longer than the previous one by about 3 m, i.e.: 200 m, 203 m, 206 m, 209 m, and so on.

Width
The required width of the running track is 1.22 m with a tolerance of +/- 0.01 m. The width of the track includes 5 cm of the marking line. The width of each track does not change.

Indoors, the width of the tracks is slightly less – 0.9-1.1 m with a tolerance of +/- 0.01 m.