The Ponce Grand Prix de Atletismo is a

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

competition held yearly in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

at the

Francisco Montaner Stadium The Estadio Francisco ("Paquito") Montaner (English: ''Francisco ("Paquito") Montaner Stadium'') is a multi-use stadium in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is home to the Leones de Ponce team of the Puerto Rico Baseball League (LBPPR) and FC Leones of t ...

. The event started in 2007, after the successful hosting of the 2006

Ibero-American Championships The Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') is a biennial athletics competition for athletes representing Ibero-American countries as well as a number of other Spanish- or Portuguese-spea ...

.Robinson, Javier Clavelo (2012-05-13)
Culson runs world lead and Wilson surprises Robles and Richardson in Ponce – IAAF World Challenge
IAAF. Retrieved on 13 May 2012. It was considered among the most important athletic events in the Caribbean based on the competitive and organizational quality of the event. Starting with the 2012 season, the Ponce Grand Prix joined the

IAAF World Challenge The IAAF World Challenge was an annual, global circuit of one-day track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation ...

competitions until 2015 and represented the only other city in

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

, outside

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

, and

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the sixth-most-populous city in the Americas. Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city wa ...

in the circuit. The event was relaunched in 2022 named Puerto Rico International Athletics Classic as part of the silver level scheduled

World Athletics Continental Tour The World Athletics Continental Tour is an annual series of independent track and field athletic competitions, recognised by World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF). The Tour forms the second tier of international one-day meetings after the ...

History

In early seasons the event was one of three competitions in the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

- NACAC circuit beside the Adidas Track Classic in

Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...

, and the Jamaica Invitational in

, where competitors accumulated points in the IAAF rankings system.''Athletes Face Off in Porta Caribe at the 2008 Ponce Grand Prix.'' Let’sGoToPonce.
Retrieved 23 April 2010. The 2009 Ponce Grand Prix was witnessed live by some 9,000 fans at the

, plus hundreds of thousands more throughout

via satellite television. This edition was considered to have initiated “the greatest feat in Puerto Rican sports history”, as new records were established, and a local hero surfaced,

Javier Culson Javier Culson Pérez (born 25 July 1984) is a Puerto Rican athlete and Olympiad bronze medalist who specialises in the 400-metre hurdles. After becoming involved with the discipline in his late teen years, he entered the podium in some region ...

, competing in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

. ''Javier Culson: Más que preparado para el Grand Prix.'' By Carlos Uriarte González. Periodico La Perla del Sur. 23 April 2010.
/ref> He was later crowned Athlete of the Year in Puerto Rico. The relaunched 2022 edition saw eleven meet records fall with eight of them were Puerto Rican all-comers' records.

Meet records

Men

Women

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 18.002422, -66.631785, type:landmark, display=title Sports events in Ponce, Puerto Rico Athletics competitions in Puerto Rico Recurring sporting events established in 2007 May in sports Annual events in Puerto Rico 2007 establishments in Puerto Rico World Athletics Continental Tour meetings