Feldspar is Redefining Speed with a Next-Gen, Sensor-Enabled Running Track

Founded in 2022 by Alvina Chen, a former professional track athlete turned visionary entrepreneur, Feldspar is a sports technology company with a mission to transform the very foundation of modern athletics. With a bold ambition to reinvent the running track, Feldspar is pioneering the world’s first sensor-enabled high-performance flooring system. Its goal is to revolutionize training, enhance athletic performance, and elevate live sporting experiences. Alvina’s journey to entrepreneurship was shaped by resilience. She fell in love with  running at the age of 12 and began train internationally. But in 2020, her athletic career was cut short when she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG), a chronic autoimmune disease. What followed were years of physical struggle and personal transformation. As she slowly recovered, Alvina began to reflect on the tools that support athlete performance and noticed a glaring gap. Despite major advancements in gear and training techniques, the running track itself had remained virtually unchanged since the 1968 Olympics.

That realization became the spark for Feldspar. By embedding advanced sensor technology directly into the track surface, the company aims to provide athletes, coaches, and sports organizations with real-time data to optimize training, track progress, and prevent injury. For stadiums and event organizers, Feldspar also unlocks opportunities to create visually captivating, interactive fan experiences that blend technology and entertainment. At the core of Feldspar is Alvina’s belief that innovation often grows from adversity. Inspired by the strength of the athletic community that supported her through recovery, she has set out to give something meaningful back. Feldspar is not only a product of her imagination but a tribute to the spirit of perseverance that defines great athletes.

Feldspar is building more than a smart running track. It is creating a platform that brings together sport, science, and storytelling to push the boundaries of what’s possible in athletics.

In conversation with Alvina Chen, Founder and CEO of Feldspar 

Q. As an early-stage company, what were the biggest technical or conceptual challenges in building the prototype—and how did your team overcome them?

One of the biggest technical challenges was creating something that had never existed before: a surface that’s both the world’s fastest and the smartest — all in one. This meant truly thinking outside the box and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in sports engineering. Over the past two years, our team has worked relentlessly, experimenting with different materials and going through more than 40 iterations of lab testing. It was a painstaking but rewarding process, and we’ve finally developed a functional prototype that delivers on both performance and intelligence.

Q. Feldspar is pioneering the integration of sensor-enabled flooring in athletics. What inspired this innovation, and what longstanding industry need does it address?

While we have seen a high level of innovation in running shoes, apparel, and training methods in recent years, it’s incredible that the modern synthetic running track itself has remained largely unchanged since the 1968 Summer Olympics. There is a huge opportunity in revolutionising this sport. By digitising the running track Feldspar is not only providing new avenues for athletes’ development and pushing the boundaries of human performance but also moving athletics towards a new era of exhilarating, high-energy live international events, similar to what we see in other sports, like football and motorsports. Our ambition with our next generation running track is to set a new benchmark for athlete performance and fan engagement for future world competitions, including the Olympic Games, and beyond.

Q. What makes your sensor-enabled track technology a game-changer for both athlete performance and live fan engagement?

For the first time, in addition to camera-based methods, advanced integrated sensing technologies will track athletes’ footsteps directly as they run on the modular digital track. The embedded sensors will capture data in real-time. For live fan engagement, this will be a revolutionary step as we’ll be able to provide something exciting. Feldspar’s patent-pending technologies integrated into the sports track will enable athletes to achieve faster running speeds, compared to what is currently possible. Early testing with some of the UK’s fastest young athletes showed Feldspar’s track to be 20% more efficient, making it significantly faster than the Paris Olympic track. For the first time, the prototype will capture real-time performance metrics cost-effectively, including stride length, foot placement, and direct force measurement from athlete footsteps, making live and scalable data collection possible.

Feldspar’s innovative energy conversion technology will help athletes run faster while using less power. At the same time, they experience reduced impact on their body, enabling them to focus on technique rather than raw power. Further, the technology also contributes to lowering their fatigue and minimising injury risk,ultimately supporting longer, more sustainable seasons.

As for live events, fans already benefit from high quality analysis provided by former athletes who transitioned to broadcasting. However, incorporating real-time data and engaging insights post-race could open the door to an unprecedented level of analysis. The commentators already offer valuable perspectives on why an athlete performed well or fell behind the competitors or their previous race-times, but adding layers of nuanced data would provide concrete evidence to complement professional commentary.

This deeper level of insight will enhance the viewers’ understanding and draw them closer to the action on the track. Moreover, with access to this data, broadcasters can potentially monetise their presentations through commercial agreements or sponsorships, thereby increasing the commercial value of live athletics coverage.

Q. Feldspar envisions transforming athletics into a high-octane, entertainment-rich experience. How do you see this shift unfolding at stadiums and global events in the coming years?

We have bold ambitions for the future of athletics. With our next-generation intelligent track surface powering performance from the ground up, we’re not only enabling athletes to run faster and more efficiently, but also reimagining how the sport is experienced. Our surface is engineered for elite performance while also designed to bring athletics into the digital age — enabling immersive, entertainment-rich experiences for both fans and broadcasters. Because the flooring is modular and easy to assemble, we envision it being used at stadiums and global events as both a temporary and permanent solution. This flexibility allows venues to adapt quickly while maintaining world-class standards, creating new opportunities for how and where the sport is showcased.

Q. As you prepare for market entry, how are you thinking about pilot partnerships—with stadiums, federations, or leagues—to bring your solution to life at scale?

We’re currently in discussions with international and national federations, high-performance centers, and stadiums on how we could bring our solution to life at scale. These conversations are laying the groundwork for impactful pilot partnerships that will showcase the full potential of our technology. We’ll be able to share more details a bit further down the line.

“Our ambition with our next generation running track is to set a new benchmark for athlete performance and fan engagement for future world competitions, including the Olympic Games, and beyond.”