With the nation’s best Olympic performance since 1956, a consistent high performance summer series and increased unity across the sport there’s lots to look forward to this summer.
Cover image by Ben Levy for Inside Athletics
The Paris Olympics saw 7 medals won:
- Gold – Nina Kennedy, Pole Vault
- Silver – Nicola Olysagers, High Jump
- Silver – Jesscia Hull, 1500m
- Bronze – Eleanor Patterson, High Jump
- Bronze – Matt Denny, Discus
- Bronze – Jemima Montag, 20km Race Walk
- Bronze – Jemima Montag / Rhydian Cowley, Marathon Race Walk Relay Mixed
That was August and now, the start of October, marks the traditional start of the next athletics summer season which builds through to April next year.
At the elite end of the sport 2025 marks the fifth and final year of an unprecedented period in the sport’s history, where there has been a global championship (Olympic or World Championship) every year. The 2025 World Championships take place in Tokyo in September 2025.
There’s further changes afoot internationally with the Michael Johnson led Grand Slam Track League launching in April 2025 with $12.6 million in prize money across four meets, while there’s now also certainty that there will be a Commonwealth Games in 2026, in Glasgow (but seeming likely that the marathon will go the way of racewalking, and not being included).
Athletics Australia has finalised publishing its key dates for the domestic season. It’s a series that slightly increased in standard from 2023 to 2024, with two meets (Melbourne and Sydney) being in the top 100 one-day meets held during the calendar year, based on World Athletics ranking statistics.
Meet World Rank Score Maurie Plant Meet Melbourne 85 81,074 Sydney Track Classic 99 80,467 Adelaide Invitational 102 80,426 Canberra Track Classic 126 79,194 Cathy Freeman Shield (Qld) 488 70,380
The total scores of the top 5 meets increased by 0.7% from 2023. The Maurie Plant Meet and Sydney Track Classic were of a slightly lower standard, with the Adelaide Track Classic making a significant improvement. Along with the Canberra Track Classic there’s four meets of essentially equal quality, a long way ahead of the top interclub meet (Queensland Athletics’s Cathy Freeman Shield).
All of Australia’s top five championship meets increased in standard from 2023, with some athletes also being able to access the Oceania Championships in Fiji, which was ranked 57th in the world.
| Championship | World Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Championships | 14 | 162,085 |
| ACT Championships | 72 | 148,064 |
| Queensland Championships | 87 | 145,856 |
| NSW Championships | 88 | 145,846 |
| Australian U20 Championships | 98 | 144,298 |
What’s new in 2025?
All roads lead to Perth for the Australian Championships in April.
The 2025 season also sees some changes with the reintroduction of the Perth Track Classic and an earlier positioning of the Albie Thomas Mile which moves to February.
The Sydney Track Classic returns to its rightful home at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre following last year’s venture back to ES Marks. The meet will be held during the NSW Junior Championships, which for the first time in the sport’s history will be a single championship for U13 through to U20 athletes as part of a partnership between Athletics NSW and Little Athletics NSW to have a single affiliation, membership and competition structure.
Calendar Key Dates
Visit links to the Athletics Directory which includes options to book accommodation via Booking.com – with most venues providing free amendments/cancellation up to 48 prior to the event
- 6-8 December: Australian All School Championships (Brisbane)
- 14 December: Zatopek:10 (Melbourne)
- 25-27 January: ACT Championships
- 15 February: Adelaide Invitational
- 20 February: Albie Thomas Mile (Sydney)
- 1 March: Perth Track Classic
- 15 March: Sydney Track Classic
- 20-23 March: NSW Championships
- 29 March: Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne
- 4-13 April: Australian Championships (Perth) – U13 to Open
- 19-21 April: Stawell Gift
Momentum towards a unified sport
Significant strides have been made towards the breaking down of silos within Australian athletics, driven by both Little Athletics Australia and Athletics Australia affiliated state associations.
A year ago the sport was still adjusting to the 2022 failure of Little Athletics Australia’s and Athletics’s vision to form a single national body, with activities across the sport diverging. Since then changes demonstrating an increasingly aligned culture and operations within the sport have occurred, which can only be of benefit to athletes.
Athletics NSW and Little Athletics NSW have successfully launched a new operating model for the sport in NSW, with clubs and centres, athletes and calendars aligned. The two organisations maintain separate Boards and legal entities but present the sport in a fully consistent and aligned way to all of their stakeholders. Bravo.
On the Apple Isle Athletics Tasmania and Little Athletics Tasmania now have a joint CEO.
Meanwhile, in August, Athletics West members voted overwhelmingly in support of disaffiliating from Little Athletics Australia. On one hand, it reflect a unity of vision in Western Australian athletics – that it needs only one national and one state body. On the other, it’s a sad diminishment of Little Athletics Australia, which now only provides custodianship of its movement in three-quarters of Australia’s states and territories. It will be a period of soul searching for the organisation as it grapples with its purpose, relevance and future in an environment that its members are proactively changing, for the better, around them.
Celebrate the new season – Australia’s Favourite Track and 20% off SALE
The search is on to find Australia’s Favourite Athletics Track in 2024!
In 2021 we embarked upon a similar search with 15,000 votes cast by the Australian athletics community to determine Hagenauer Reserve at Box Hill as Australia’s favourite.
Three years on, will the ‘Home of the PB’ retain it’s mantle?
>> Get involved at the Athletics Directory
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