03.03.2010

Olympic and world champions headline Melbourne Track Classic

Four reigning Olympic champions and four current world champions will tomorrow night headline the action at the IAAF-sanctioned Melbourne Track Classic, the final stopover on the 2010 Australian Athletics Tour.

Olympic and world champions Steve Hooker (pole vault) and Valerie Vili (NZL, shot put) will join fellow Olympic gold medallists David Neville (USA, 400m) and Asbel Kiprop (KEN, 1500m) and fellow world title-holders Dani Samuels (discus throw) and Kurt Fearnley (1500m wheelchair) in a night of non-stop track and field action at Melbourne Olympic Park.

The fifth and final stopover on the 2010 Australian Athletics Tour, the Melbourne Track Classic kick-starts the all-new IAAF World Athletics Challenge series and, with over $100,000 in prizemoney on the line, some of the biggest names in international track and field – including 23 members of the Australian Flame – will feature in the action.

For the nation’s top athletics talent the Melbourne meet will be the last chance to secure some high-stakes competition on the domestic circuit before the all-important national championships and Commonwealth Games selection trials in Perth next month.

In a season that has offered up no shortage of highlights, the action is set to reach fever pitch at Melbourne Olympic Park this Thursday night. Here are five events not to miss:

1. Men’s 1500m
Beijing Olympics gold medallist Asbel Kiprop (KEN) meets Olympic silver medallist and reigning Commonwealth champion Nick Willis (NZL) and an all-star line-up of Australia’s leading middle distance men including national champion Jeff Riseley, Australian Flame athlete Jeremy Roff and Beijing Olympian Mitch Kealey in what is being billed as the best 1500m field assembled in Melbourne since the 1956 Olympic Games.

2. Men’s 400m
World championships 4x400m relay bronze medallists Sean Wroe, Joel Milburn and the in-form Ben Offereins go head-to-head in a star-studded field. On the start line the trio will meet dual Olympic medallist David Neville of the USA, setting up what will be one fast and furious lap at Melbourne Olympic Park.

3. Men’s pole vault
Commonwealth, world and Olympic champion Steve Hooker returns to his home town as he continues the chase for Sergey Bubka’s world record mark of 6.14m and counts down to the world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, next month, where he will be out to claim the one major title missing from his collection.

4. Women’s discus throw
Twenty-one-year-old Dani Samuels became the youngest world discus champion in history when she took gold in Berlin last August and showed just why she is the world title-holder in Sydney on Saturday night, posting a new personal best of 65.84m to continue her winning run. In superb form this domestic season there will be no stopping Samuels on Thursday night.  

5. Men’s long jump
World championships bronze medallist Mitchell Watt and Australian Flame teammate Fabrice Lapierre, who placed fourth at the world titles in Berlin, take on US big man Trevell Quinley on the long jump runway. Watt is just six centimetres shy of Jai Taurima’s national record of 8.49m set in 2000 and it’s only a matter of time before the mark is undone.

Following his heart-stopping win over 1500m at the Sydney Track Classic at the weekend, Australian Flame athlete and junior national 3000m champion Ryan Gregson will tomorrow night face up to Kenyan sensation David Rudisha, the fastest man over 800m in 2009 and fourth fastest of all time. Beijing Olympian Lachlan Renshaw will also test his mettle over the two laps as he looks to stake a claim for Commonwealth Games selection, while national 10,000m record-holder Collis Birmingham headlines the field for the men’s 5000m.

In other action, Beijing Olympics silver medallist Sally McLellan will seek to continue her winning return to the track from the back injury that threatened to derail her world championships campaign last August. McLellan took out the 100m/200m sprint double in Sydney on Saturday night and will be one to watch in Melbourne.

Also on the track, world championships representative Brendan Cole will continue his battle with visiting international Danny McFarlane in the men’s 400m hurdles, the Jamaican edging out a narrow win at the Sydney meet on Saturday night that Cole will be keen to avenge.

The women’s 400m will see all four members of the Berlin world championships 4x400m relay team – Jody Henry, Tamsyn Lewis, Caitlin Pincott and Pirrenee Steinert – hit the track alongside fellow Australian Flame athlete Madeleine Pape and 400m hurdles specialist Lauren Boden.

In the field, Beijing Olympian Jarrod Bannister will look to secure a second Commonwealth Games A-qualifier inside a week when he lines up against former world javelin champion Tero Pitkamaki (FIN) and New Zealand powerhouse Valerie Vili will show just why she is the reigning Commonwealth, Olympic and world title-holder in a heavy-hitting display in the shot put circle.

Live results and a live audio stream will be available at athletics.com.au.

Tickets to tomorrow night’s Melbourne Track Classic are available at Ticketek or at the gate.
Grandstand (adult): $30
Grandstand (concession): $20
General admission (adult): $20
General admission (concession): $10
General admission (under 12): Free