Track with 1500 start on backstretch

Geometry wise, it is possible that the 1500 waterfall could be 1/3 down the back straight stretch IF the radius of the end curves was unusually small.

Oscar

Actually when you are on the track it looks like the turns are extra big, but on google earth it looks normal. I measured online backward from that line 100m and that puts you about 1/3 of the way into the turn, as you would expect. That's where the finish would need to be!

You can see this for yourself if you search for Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands on GE or google maps. The line I'm talking about is the only waterfall line on the west straight. European Championships will be there in August. I will definitely search for it to watch.

As Pete Riegel (and Yul Brenner) would say, it's a puzzlement.

Puzzlement indeed. I get it at about 140 meters in front of what I take to be the finish line. You're sure it isn't a steeplechase start of some sort?

Definitely says 1500S on the line. I even asked a young guy who was doing speedwork there if there was maybe a 1500 steeple for kids. He said he didn't think so and didn't know what the line was.

Mark,

Is this the track you were looking at?

https://www.google.com/maps/@5...4,186m/data=!3m1!1e3

The common finish is located on the west side of the track. And, the 1500 meter start is located on the east side of the track, near the end of the first turn, by the hammer cage.

The Olympic Stadium Amsterdam track does look a lot like the Hayward Field track in Oregon.

Thank you. -- Justin

That makes sense. But what about the line that Mark asks about?

This diagram, from a booklet titled "Getting Started as a Track Official", published by England Athletics, may help explain the location of the youth 1500 meter steeplechase start.




You can find a wealth of information on the England Athletics Officials pages.

http://www.englandathletics.or...-athletics-officials

Thank you. -- Justin

Justin, thanks for those diagrams. If I follow them correctly, it looks to me like Mark's mystery line is in about the right place for the 3,000 meter steeplechase-- the water jump location looks like the north end of the track.
Still a puzzlement . . .

This isn't part of the same puzzle, but I just realized that I lived near the Olympic Stadium as a 7 & 8 year old. We lived on Milletstraat, only about a kilometer from the stadium. I'm sure the track and its markings are new since that time; for all I know the whole stadium may have been replaced.

Justin and I talked about this through email, and I told him that the line I saw said "1500S" while other start lines just said 5000, 3000, etc. so it might be some kind of steeplechase for kids. Soon after that Justin found the diagrams posted here. The start line is on the backstraight, not the frontstraight, so it is indeed the Youth 1500m steeplechase start line.
Good jog to Justin!
I think it is the original stadium, although it looks like it has been refurbished, and certainly the track has been replaced. It doesn't seat many.