For decades, Maurie Plant was one of the most important driving forces in Australian Athletics. A great friend and supporter to many in the sport, Maurie would be honoured by this meet. He would also have a joke, perhaps off-colour, to tell us, to make us smile. It is fantastic that Athletics Australia has renamed this meet in honor of this amazing man.
Superstars of Australian athletics will take on the world’s best in a high-profile track and field meet on home soil, with World Athletics and the Victorian Government today announcing their support of a World Continental Tour Gold Level meet in Melbourne in February.
The Melbourne Track Classic will be upgraded and reimagined as the Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne, held in memory of the athletics stalwart on Thursday, February 23, with plans in place for it to become the highest-profile annual track and field event in the southern hemisphere.
The Continental Tour Gold series is the uppermost level on the World Athletics Continental Tour calendar, sitting just under the Diamond League in status. Each meeting attracts the best athletes across the globe, with 13 existing meets offered in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, including New York and Los Angeles and, for the next three years, in Oceania.
The Maurie Plant Meet is part of the Chemist Warehouse Australian Summer Series and will take place at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park in the heart of Australia’s sporting capital, the week after the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst. Australian and international athletes will be announced in the coming weeks as the golden decade ramps up to take our Aussie athletes to the start line and the podium in Victoria 2026 and Brisbane 2032.
As a part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series, the Maurie Plant Meet will offer over $200,000 in prize money plus higher world ranking points which assists athletes in their quest for World Championships and Olympic Games qualification. The meet will help elevate the sport in Australia by featuring some of the biggest names in global athletics, with at least three athletes from the top 50 of the World Athletics world rankings in at least 12 events. It will be broadcast in over 150 countries and available on the live stream to the rest of the world.
The meet will also further Melbourne’s quest to become a summer training and competition venue for the world’s best athletes leading up to the 2026 Victoria…
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