The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athletes wishing to compete at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games or World Championships. The event is conducted by Athletics Australia.
The 2023 Australian Championships were the 100th edition of the event, which dates back to 1890 for men, and 1931 for women. These championships has been held in all states of Australia, with the Queensland Sport & Athletics Centre being the venue that has held the most editions of the event (12).
Initially, men’s and women’s events were held separately, in different places, until the Olympic selections of 1972 and 1976, and as a single event since 1978.
These championships are considered open: athletes from other countries such as New Zealand and the USA have competed in and won events.
History
The championships were first held on 31 May 1890 under the name Inter Colonial Meet at Moore Park in Sydney.
In 1893, teams from the Australasian colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand competed in the first formalised Australasian Athletics Championships meeting.
A New Zealand team continued to compete in this event until the 1927/28 event. At the next championships in 1929/30, women's events were included for the first time.
In 1933, the women began conducting their own championships, with a wider range of events. Except for occasional combined championships in 1936, 1972 and 1976, the separation of men's and women's championships continued until the 1977/78 event.
Championship events
The full range of Olympic events is not usually conducted at the national championships. For example, during the 2007/08 season the following championship events were held separately:
Men's and Women's 10,000 metres Zatopek Classic 13 December 2007
Men's 50 kilometres race walk Melbourne 16 December 2007
Women's 5000 metres Sydney Grand Prix 16 February 2008
Men's 5000 metres IAAF World Athletics Tour, Melbourne meet 21 February 2008
Men's and Women's 20 kilometres race walk Melbourne 23 February 2008
Most successful athletes
The most successful athletes at the Championships have been throwers Gael Martin and Warwick Selvey who won 20 and 19 championships events, respectively.