The Sydney Track Classic is the premier invitational high performance athletics meet annually held in Sydney.
The meet is a World Athletics Continental Challenger meet which accrues Category D points for World Athletics Rankings.
The meet is conducted by Athletics NSW with support from Athletics Australia.
The Sydney Track Classic in various forms dates back to 1989 and has been known by a number of names throughout its history as the premier Sydney athletics event of the domestic season. These include: AIS Drug Offensive, Commonwealth Challenge, Mobil Grand Prix, Sugar Games, Mars Challenge, Optus Grand Prix, Sydney Track Tour, Telstra A-Series and Sydney Athletics Grand Prix. The current naming rights sponsor is Chemist Warehouse.
From 2005 to 2008 a secondary high performance meet was conducted in Sydney. This was initiated by the Sydney University Track Classic in 2005, which was held to celebrate the university’s sesquicentenary. Athletics NSW continued the meet in 2006, 2007 and 2008 under the name Sydney Track Classic. Following the emerging success of the meet, Athletics Australia and Athletics NSW agreed to consolidate the event into a single event from the 2009 edition, utilising the Sydney Track Classic brand as the name for Sydney’s premier athletics meet.
The meet has been hosted at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre since its opening in 1994, excluding 2002 and 2003 when no meet was held. However, in 2024 the meet will be held at ES Marks Athletics Field, with the Little Athletics NSW State Championships taking place at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre over the same weekend. This is in contrast to the the 2011 event, where the Little Athletics State Championships were held during the day, and the Sydney Track Classic in the evening, at the same venue.
Prior to Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre’s opening, the event was conducted at ES Marks.
