The Sydney Track Classic is an annual outdoor

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 ...

meeting held in February or March at the

Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre is a multi-use stadium in the Sydney Olympic Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The capacity of the stadium is 5,000 spectators. It also hosted the 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics ...

in the suburb of

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Parramatta, City of Parramatta Council. It i ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is part of the national Australian Athletics Tour, alongside the

Melbourne Track Classic The Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne is an annual outdoor track and field meeting which takes place in February at the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, Australia since 2023. Last held under the old name, Melbourne Track Classic, in early March 2016, ...

. The history of the event emerged from a series of major

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

meetings which were held in the 1990s.History
Sydney Track Classic. Retrieved 2011-03-24. The 1999 competition was the opening leg of the

IAAF Grand Prix The IAAF Grand Prix was an annual, global circuit of one-day outdoor track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was created in 1985 as the IAAF's first seasonal track and field circ ...

circuit and it formed part of the preparation towards the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. The meeting was abandoned in 2002, but events hosted by the Sydney University Athletics Club and Athletics New South Wales saw the Sydney Track Classic restored in 2006. By 2009 the competition was attracting top level domestic athletes (such as Steve Hooker and Sally McLellan) as well as a number of high-profile foreign athletes (including

Asafa Powell Asafa Powell (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consistently ...

Melaine Walker Melaine Walker (born 1 March 1983) is a Jamaican 400 metres hurdler. She was born in Kingston. Walker is the former Olympic 400 m hurdles champion.Lewis, Richard (2009-08-20)For Walker, World record assault next item on the agenda?". ''IAAF' ...

, and

Valerie Vili Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly Vili; born 6 October 1984) is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF ...

). The meeting was ranked first domestically for the level of performances that year. Hooker,

Dani Samuels Dani Stevens (née Samuels, born 26 May 1988) is an Australian retired discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current national and Oceanian record holder. After winning the discus go ...

and

Tero Pitkämäki Tero Kristian Pitkämäki (born 19 December 1982) is a Finnish retired track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World Champion, having won gold in 2007. His personal best throw of 91.53 m, set in 2005, ranks him eleve ...

provided the highlights of the 2010 edition, while

Mitchell Watt Mitchell Watt (born 25 March 1988) is an Australian track & field athlete. His main event is the long jump and holds the current Oceania record for the long jump – 8.54m. He was the first ever Australian long jump medalist at a World Champio ...

and

David Rudisha David Lekuta Rudisha, State Commendations of Kenya, MBS (born 17 December 1988) is a retired Kenyan Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner who is the world and Olympic record holder in the 800 metres. Rudisha won gold medals in the 800 ...

topped the bill in 2011. In 2020 the meeting kicked off the inaugural

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 ...

Editions

Meeting records

Men

Women

References

External links

* * at

Athletics Australia Australian Athletics is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Australian Sports Commission for the sport of athletics in Australia. Founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 reg ...

Sydney Track Classic Results
at Athletics Australia {{Australian Athletics Tour Annual track and field meetings Athletics competitions in Australia IAAF Grand Prix Sports competitions in Sydney World Athletics Continental Tour meetings