LONDON, Aug. 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From the first day of the track and field competition--when athletes posted 12 national bests and 52 personal bests--the state-of-the-art Mondotrack track surface at London's Olympic Stadium helped the world's greatest track and field athletes perform their best. When the Games were over, three world records*, four Olympic records, 64 national records, and a slew of personal and season bests had been set on the track.

"These amazing results and the comments we heard throughout the Games about Mondotrack being 'super fast' and a 'magic carpet' are extremely gratifying," Federico Stroppiana, CEO, Mondo Group. "Our efforts to develop tracks that are both soft and fast result in surfaces that provide the optimum blend of comfort and speed, making the tracks ideal for both training and high-speed competition and resulting in record-breaking athletic performances."

Topping the list of London 2012 track and field highlights on Mondotrack was Usain Bolt becoming the first man in Olympic history to win the 100- and 200-meter races and the men's 4x100-meter relay in two consecutive Games. The Jamaican's gold medal performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics also were on Mondotrack.

The Games also produced the fastest 100-meter race of all time, with seven of the eight participants in the final crossing the line in less than 10 seconds. (The eighth, Jamaica's Asafa Powell, was slowed because of an injury.) That race also saw four of the seven competitors establish or equal personal or season bests.

The three world records established during the Games on Mondotrack were:

The four new Olympic records set during the Games on Mondotrack were:

Track and field Olympians also posted numerous national records, personal bests and season bests on Mondotrack, including:

Mondotrack is the newest track surface by Mondo, the global leader in the sport flooring market. Mondotrack builds on the success of the company's world-renowned Super X Performance track, which was the world's top track for more than 30 years and was an official track of eight Olympic Games through 2004. Designed for superior athletic performance, Mondotrack provides optimal traction and a greater contact area than other tracks. It converts the maximum amount of force generated by athletes' foot strikes to energy for maximum energy return, which helps athletes achieve faster times compared to running on other surfaces

More than 230 world records have been set on tracks made by Mondo, including five at the 2008 Olympics and three at these London Games.

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World records, national records, personal bests and season bests abound on Mondotrack surface at London Olympic Games