Rekortan PUR at the Stade Pierre Paul Bernard, Talence, France
Training centre for the 2024 Olympics
Talence, with its 45,000 residents, is considered a suburb of Bordeaux. The town is home to the campus of the Université de Bordeaux, which has over 50,000 students. In the middle of the Bois de Thouars, a large, protected forest area, is an almost 40,000-m² sports complex with the Stade Pierre Paul Bernard at its centre. It was opened in 1976, since which time the stadium has primarily been used to develop talent in football and athletics. Talence has seasoned countless renowned football players, who play in the French Ligue 1.
The Stade Pierre Paul Bernard is also the venue for the “Décastar”, an annual international athletics meeting. It is part of the World Athletics Combined Events challenge, where men compete in the decathlon, and women in the heptathlon. In 2023, 36 top athletes from 17 nations took part in the Décastar. Apart from that, the stadium hosts international U18 football tournaments and athletics competitions in parasports, including world championships.
Since 2021, the entire sports complex and stadium have been fully renovated and expanded. The primary goal is to optimally integrate the renovation in the natural environment. All new buildings, including an administration and sports centre, have been fitted with cladding made of charred timber. The roof of the stadium consists of a gracefully curved wood structure, reminiscent of waves.
The outdoor athletics track, which was completed in the summer of 2022, has been expanded from six to eight lanes and renewed with our Rekortan PUR surface in brick red. The indoor track was completed in early 2023. As a solid synthetic surface, Rekortan PUR is ideal for record-breaking times in top-level international sport. Its structure, which is installed in three consecutive layers, provides the perfect conditions for professional athletes and discerning amateurs alike. In addition to the athletics track, we also installed Rekortan PUR on six 80-metre warm-up lanes, one throwing area and three jumping areas for long jump and triple jump, as well as high jump and pole vaulting.
At the Stade Pierre Paul Bernard, our high-speed synthetic surface provides maximum acceleration and outstanding shock absorption values. It’s no wonder that the stadium has become known as a “games preparation centre” for athletics and paralympic athletics in the run up to the 2024 Olympic Games.
