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:
- The Australian Athletics Instagram Elite: Top Influencers of 2024
See top 20 Instagram movers and shakers within Australian athletics. Cover image by Fred Etter Let’s take a closer look at the biggest influencers in Australian athletics based on those athletes who were in either the 2022 or 2023 World Championships teams or 2024 Olympics, based on their current Instagram following (at 1 November 2024):… Read more: The Australian Athletics Instagram Elite: Top Influencers of 2024 - World Athletics Ultimate Championships Launched
The athletics world is set to enter a bold new era with the launch of the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, commencing 11 September 2026 and running for three days, in Budapest, Hungary. This highly anticipated event aims to establish a continuous annual cycle of elite global competitions, complementing the established Olympic Games and World Championships cycle, which… Read more: World Athletics Ultimate Championships Launched - Gout Gout runs fastest 200m by Australian in 31 years
World junior silver medallist Gout Gout has shattered the Australian U20 200m record with a sensational run at the Queensland All School Championships. The 16-year-old ran 20.29 seconds with a 1.2 m/s tailwind to move to fourth on the Australian open all-time list. Only 1968 Olympic silver medallist Peter Norman (20.06), 1993 World Championships finalist… Read more: Gout Gout runs fastest 200m by Australian in 31 years - Winkcup wins as Hancock-Cameron disqualified; Phillips takes men’s title
There was high quality running and drama at the NSW 3000m Championships at ES Marks Athletics Field. The women’s race was a race of two, with Jaylah Hancock-Cameron and Georgia Winkcup clearing out from the rest of the field. Winkcup, a 2021 Olympian in the steeplechase, forced the pace until a lap to go when… Read more: Winkcup wins as Hancock-Cameron disqualified; Phillips takes men’s title - New athletics season continues momentum of growth and change
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: That was August and now, the start of October, marks the traditional… Read more: New athletics season continues momentum of growth and change
