Sydney Track Classic – Magical Moments
Published Wed 10 Mar 2021
10 March 2021
Sydney Track Classic – Magical Moments
Saturday night’s Sydney Track Classic is sure to produce some magical moments. Here are some from past meets.
Melinda Gainsford-Taylor V Cathy Freeman
During the ‘90s one of the features of the Grand Prix meets was the clashes over 200m between Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and Cathy Freeman. Freeman had beaten Gainsford in the 200m final at the 1994 Commonwealth Games when they took gold and bronze and Freeman held the Australian record of 22.25. In 2000, with the Sydney Olympics in sight, battling a 3.8m/s headwind, Gainsford won in 22.73, ahead of Freeman in 22.94. They would both go on to make the Olympic final with Gainsford placing sixth and Freeman seventh.
1998 Optus/Nike Sydney Track Tour
This meet is unlikely to ever be parallelled. Two years out from the Olympics, in a non-Olympic/World Championships year, the Nike sportswear funded dozens of its athletes to compete in and experience the future Olympic city. There were so many internationals there was a need for many B races to accommodate Australians.
In the two mile race Daniel Komen (KEN) just missed his own world record. Four athletes were over 2.29m in the high jump with Tim Forsyth second with 2.29m and in the pole vault, three athletes topped 5.80m. The men’s 100m was quick, won by Maurice Greene (USA, 9.99), from Jon Drummond (USA, 10.10), while Frankie Fredericks (NAM) won the 200m.
In the women’s events Marion Jones (USA) won the 200m in 21.98 from Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (22.49) and Lauren Hewitt (23.24). Cathy Freeman took the 400m in 51.37and Sonia O’Sullivan (IRE) the 1500m in 4:08.62, with ninth place in a quick 4:12.70.
Darren Clark V Dean Capobianco
In the lead-up to the 1994 Sugar Games everybody was talking about just one race, the 400m between Darren Clark and Dean Capobianco. Capobianco was moving up to the longer sprint after placing fifth in the 200m (20.18) the previous year at the World Championships and Clark had been unbeaten by another Australian over 400m for 12 years.
The race lived up to the pre-race hype with just 0.02 seconds separating them in the line with Capobiano taking the win in 45.47. Clark went on to take bronze at the World Indoor Championships six weeks later.
Distance Classics
There were a series of great distance races in the years after the Sydney Olympics. At the 2001 Telstra Grand Prix meet Craig Mottram set a national record in the 3000m running 7:41.35 to lead home a field in which seven athletes ran under 7:58. In 2007 Mottram just missed that mark running 7:42.00 with another seven under 8:00. The 2008 1500m was a stunning race with Ryan Gregson winning in 3:35.42 from Collis Birmingham in 3:35.89 and eight athletes under 3:40.
1990 MBF Commonwealth Challenge
The 1990 MBF Commonwealth Challenge including dozens of athlete en route to the Auckland Commonwealth Games. It included Seb Coe in one of his last ever races, winning the 800m in 1:47.66. Liz McCoglan (SCO) won the 3000m in 8:43.14 and Linford Christie (GBR) took the 100m ahead of Sydney’s Tim ‘jet’ Jackson. Kerry Saxby broke the world record clocking 20:17.19 in the 5000m walk.
David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Image: Cathy Freeman and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (courtesy of David Tarbotton)
2021 SYDNEY TRACK CLASSIC
Come see local stars Dani Stevens, Bendere Oboya, Liz Clay, Michelle Jenneke, Kurtis Marschall, Ryan Gregson, Peter Bol, Joseph Deng, Nick Hough, Nick Andrews, Alexander Kolesnikoff, Rose Davies, Anneliese Rubie, Nina Kennedy and Matthew Ramsden in action at the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday 13 March at Sydney Olympic Park.
EVENT DETAILS
Date Saturday 13 March
Location Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, Sydney Olympic Park NSW
Time 5:15pm - 9:15pm
Tickets, entries, timetable
