Athletics PNG has officially released its official Calendar of events for 2026, with its domestic programme following a similar pattern to 2025 and several international events being specifically targeted to assist its national squad athletes as they prepare for the Commonwealth Games and next year’s Pacific Games.

The major domestic events will be the Highlands Open in June, the NCD and Morobe Championships in September and the National Championships in Lae in December.

Due to funding constraints, the team to the Oceania Championships in Darwin will be smaller than the one which attended the 2024 Championships in Fiji.

President Tony Green said that since 2019 the Area Championships have been highly competitive, with many high-level Australian athletes seeking World Ranking points.

 “This year we will priorities athletes that we are targeting for the Commonwealth Games and other athletes who began their preparations early and have shown that they can be competitive,” Green added.

Selection for the Commonwealth Games will be based on performances in 2025, and the Justification Committee of the PNG Olympic Committee is expected to meet next month to consider nominations from the various sports.

Trial competitions will be staged in Lae in March and April to gauge the progress of athletes preparing for international events this year.

The country’s top middle- and long-distance runners have the Philippine Open to look forward to, as well as the Gold Coast half marathon or 10km race and the Australian cross-country championships in August.

PNG has a minimum quota of one athlete for the World U20 championships which will be staged in Eugene Oregon in early August. However, the possibility exists for a mixed 4x100m relay if there are sufficient athletes performing at the required level.