The finals of the Stawell Gift running races have been temporarily delayed after torrential rain filled the grass track at Central Park in the western Victorian town.

The women’s final scheduled for 1:45pm this afternoon and the men’s final at 2:20pm have been put on hold following a major storm, which is believed to have dropped around 10 millimetres of rain in half an hour.

A severe weather warning and heavy rainfall remains in place for the Wimmera and South West regions of Victoria.

Damaging winds gusts of up to around 90 kilometres per hour are also possible across the central and north-eastern ranges later tonight.

Earlier in the afternoon, Olympian Peter Bol finished second to Riley Bryce in the invitational 1km handicapped challenge, after starting around 32 metres behind most of the field.

The race drew comparisons to Cathy Freeman’s 1996 Stawell Gift win. 

The Stawell Gift began at the end of the gold rush in 1878 and has been held in all but five years since.