In a boost for Australian athletics the Melbourne Track Classic has been granted Continental Tour Gold status by World Athletics.
The meet will be held at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne on Thursday 23 February under the new name of the Maurie Plant Meet, in the week following the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst. The status for the meet means that Melbourne will return to being the host of the most prestigious held in Australia each year, with international athletes competing at scale in Melbourne for the first time since 2017 during the short lived Nitro Athletics series.
The World Athletics Contintental Tour Gold series includes meets of the calibre of Tokyo, Turku, Budapest, New York and Ostrava and bring to Australia considerable benefits for athletes and fans:
- Category A meet for World Athletics Rankings, which are important for qualifying for the World Championships
- A minimum US$200,000 in prize money
- A minimum of 15% of the athletes participating in the meet will be from outside Oceania
- In at least 12 of the events, a minimum of 3 athletes from the Top 50 in the world (3 per country basis) to participate
- An expectation from World Athletics of at least 3,000 spectators at the meet
The meet has been renamed in memory of Maurie Plant, who died in 2020. Plant was a colourful identity in Australian athletics, most known for his role as Athletics Australia’s international athlete liaison, a booming voice as a meet commentator and for supporting the careers of numerous athletes on the international circuit, including Cathy Freeman, Steve Hooker and Sally Pearson.
The Melbourne Track Classic had previously been part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour until the mid-2010s, but towards the end of that period was overtaken by the Sydney Track Classic, and then more recently, the Brisbane Track Classic, as the top performing meet of the Australian domestic season.
Recent Posts:
- Jenneke sets the tone as emerging talent steps up in Melbourne at Short Track Championships
The Australian Short Track Championships may not have drawn the full depth of the nation’s elite, but those who did line up at the second edition of the meet found conditions that were far better than Melbourne’s reputation might suggest. Michelle Jenneke made the clearest of those statements, claiming the national 60m hurdles title in… Read more: Jenneke sets the tone as emerging talent steps up in Melbourne at Short Track Championships - 100th Victorian Milers Club Meet sees record to Abdelrahim
Australian junior 800m champion Bob Abdelrahim ran the fastest ever two lap performance at a Victorian Milers Club meet with his runaway 1:46.48 victory at Lakeside Stadium. Abdelrahim, who turns 20 next month, extended away from the field with 350m remaining for a 53.9/52.5 negative split, taking over a second off the previous best VMC… Read more: 100th Victorian Milers Club Meet sees record to Abdelrahim - Australian Top Lists
Check out the top 8 performances by Australian athletes in the lead up to Commonwealth Games selection. With Top Lists back in vogue in the selection policy for Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games and for Oceania Championships selection (compared to prior years for World Athletics events where World Rankings ruled), here’s the performances that selectors will be… Read more: Australian Top Lists - Built to Rise: Izobelle Louison-Roe Emerges as Australia’s Next High Jump Star
Jumping has always been part of Izobelle Louison-Roe’s life. Long before podiums and qualifying standards, it was there in the backyard: sibling dares, improvised take-offs, and the kind of fearless experimentation that only kids seem to master. It followed her through gymnastics, where strength and movement were learned across every range, and later through athletics,… Read more: Built to Rise: Izobelle Louison-Roe Emerges as Australia’s Next High Jump Star - Mia Gross: I Thought the 400m Would Be Fine… I Was Wrong
There’s a particular kind of honesty that only shows up when things don’t go to plan. And in Canberra, Mia Gross let the cameras roll right through it. From the moment she arrived in Canberra, the signs were there. The heat. The hydration strategy bordering on military-grade. The nervous energy disguised as dancing. A sprinter… Read more: Mia Gross: I Thought the 400m Would Be Fine… I Was Wrong
