From the Australian 3000m Championships to the nation’s 4x100m outfits and first-class fields headlined by Olympic and Paralympic medallists, Saturday’s Sydney Track Classic is shaping up as one of the hottest nights of the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series.
No event on the program at Sydney Olympic Park will carry more weight than the Australian 3000m Championships, where two-time champion Jude Thomas (QLD, Collis Birmingham) and Australian record holder Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau) will look to stamp their authority on the middle-distance scene in 2025.
With a national title on the line, the Australian 3000m Championships also serve as a key opportunity for Australia’s middle-distance athletes staking their claim for the green and gold at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September, with ranking points earned from the race contributing to their 5000m global ranking.
Chasing his third national title over the distance at just 22-years-old, Thomas approaches in white-hot form after a 13:09.36 performance over 5000m in Boston last month. His 7:42.30 career-best in the 3000m narrowly leads the field of 28 ahead of Jack Anstey (QLD, Stephen Hass) at 7:42.60 and Jack Bruce (QLD, Collis Birmingham) at 7:43.28.
Adding to his hunger is unfinished business from 2024’s instalment, where a fall at the bell lap ended his hopes of a hat-trick of Australian titles:
“I’m coming into Sydney with a bit of momentum and I hope to challenge for the win. I’m definitely in PB shape, so if it ends up being a fast one I know I can hang with these guys. Hopefully things go well and it doesn’t play out like last year for me,” Thomas said.
“I’ve had a good start to the year and it’s all off the back for being up at Falls Creek for most of the off-season. I have been very consistent in training since August last year and the races have come easy to me because of that.”
Olympian Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau) became the fastest Australian woman in history to race 3000m with her 8:24.20 showing last year, now eager to upgrade her silver from last year’s Sydney Track Classic where she finished less than one second behind Jessica Hull.
Standing in her way at Saturday’s showdown is a queue of contenders including training partner Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau), World Championships representative Natalie Rule (VIC, Craig Mottram), Maudie Skyring (VIC, Craig Mottram) and Georgia Hansen (VIC, Gavin Burren).
Adding to the middle-distance action is a pair of star-studded 800m contests poised to ignite the track as Olympians Peter Bol (VIC, Justin Rinaldi), Peyton Craig (QLD, Brendan Mallyon & Craig Mottram), Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) and Bendere Oboya (VIC, Craig Mottram) all toe the line.
The Perth Track Classic earlier this month witnessed a shakeup in the Women’s Javelin ranks as 22-year-old Mia Gordon (QLD, Ben Thomson) piled on almost five-metres to her best, rolling out a 59.17m throw to topple back-to-back world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber (QLD, Mike Barber) and fall just short of Japan’s Sae Takemoto.
All three return to Sydney but it is the addition of World Championships bronze medallist Mackenzie Little (NSW, Angus McEntyre) that will spice things up, with the two-time Olympian ready to rumble at her home track.
Also taking flight in the field is Olympic finalist Connor Murphy (NSW, Andrew Murphy) who will lead a rising triple jump contingent including Aiden Hinson (VIC, Chloe Stevens) with the country’s two premier athletes both fit and in form for their first head-to head since June 2024.
Australia’s sprinters have been torching tracks around the country in 2025 and Sydney is set to be no different on Saturday, with the inclusion of the 4x100m Relays – with both the Men’s and Women’s quartets currently holding the Australian records at 38.12 and 42.48-seconds respectively.
The in-form athletes of the Australian leg of the World Athletics Continental Tour including Lachlan Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin), Joshua Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks), Bree Masters (QLD, Ryan Hoffman) and Kristie Edwards (NSW, Andrew Murphy) have been firing all summer and will be out to cash in with team success in Sydney, after completing a relay training camp on the Gold Coast.
A world record may also tumble at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday, with reigning Paralympic champion and world record holder James Turner (ACT, Iryna Dvoskina) out to make his recent unofficial 100m T36 world record official when headlining the Men’s 100m Para.
Turner will take on T47 Australian record holder and sub-11 star Jaydon Page (ACT, Rowan Vergano), while fellow Paris Paralympic medallists Mali Lovell (NSW, Katie Edwards & Melinda Gainsford-Taylor) and Rheed McCracken (NSW, Louise Sauvage) will take to the Women’s 100m Para and Men’s 400m Wheelchair races respectively.
Lining up in their only bout before the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth are Olympians Sarah Carli (NSW) and Alanah Yukich (WA, Rose Monday), who will battle over the sticks in their pet 400m Hurdles event, with the pair looking not only for fast times the boost of confidence with a win before their Australian title tilt next month.
Tickets to the 2025 Sydney Track Classic can be purchased HERE.
For live results, entry lists and schedule click HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 12/3/2025
