Athletics Australia has announced this month’s Australian Track and Field Championships will be broadcast live and free, after the organisation announced a three-year streaming deal with the Seven Network.

The network’s successful coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games ultimately catalysed the deal, with Seven set to broadcast the next three editions of the Australian Track and Field Championships.

Seven Melbourne managing director and head of network sport, Lewis Martin, said the network is excited to extend their sports offerings to include Australian athletics.

“During the Tokyo Olympics, we saw just how much Australians love getting behind our track and field athletes, and we cannot wait to deliver the excitement, the passion and the pure elation of our Aussie athletes, straight into living rooms across the country,” Martin said.

Athletics Australia chief executive officer, Peter Bromley, said the organisation is proud to be partnering with Seven.

“We were thrilled to see that there was such an appetite from Australian audiences for athletics during both the Australian Track and Field Championships and the Tokyo Olympics last year,” Bromley said.

“We have no doubt Seven will help us reach new audiences and inspire more people to get involved in our sport, and we’re excited that through this long-term partnership, the country can get a taste of what’s to come from our sport,” he added.

In other news, Athletics Australia have formed a strategic partnership with Starwell Gift Event Management (SGEM).

SGEM are promoters of the Powercor Starwell Gift carnival, one of the world’s most famous foot races. The partnership will involve Athletics Australia encouraging athletes from its national and development ranks to participate in the race, as well as working with SGEM scheduling to optimise athlete participation.

Bromley said Athletics Australia is excited to partner with the foot race due to the two organisations’ collaboration being mutually beneficial in driving Australia’s engagement with athletics.

“With so many of our own high-performance athletes competing, it makes sense for our two organisations to work side by side to raise the profile of Australian athletics and the Gift itself,” Bromley said.

SGEM Chair, Stephanie Spence, said SGEM is happy to be working with Athletics Australia.

“This strategic collaboration, and the opportunity for the Australian public to see more of the best Australian amateur athletes go head-to-head with the best of the Australian professional athletes at Stawell, will be really exciting,” Spence said.