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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK I ≡
The grand, new experiment in professional track & field – Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track – debuted Friday at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, with an eight-event program that took 99 minutes inside a 180-minute format.
The “pre-meet” and “post-meet” shows are part of the three-hour program, with former ESPN anchor John Anderson and Olympic champs Sanya Richards-Ross and Matthew Centrowitz talking about the races for 42 minutes before the first race. For those interested, odds on each race were posted on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Conditions were good, at 82 F, breezy with 59% humidity, but with a small crowd of maybe 4-5,000 or so on Friday afternoon and evening. But the running was fun, with early-season world-leading performances in five events:
● Men/400 m: 44.34, Chris Bailey (USA)
● Men/400 m hurdles: 47.61, Alison dos Santos (BRA)
● Women/800 m: 1:58.23, Nikki Hiltz (USA)
● Women/3,000 m: 8:28.42, Ejgayyehu Taye (ETH)
● Women/400 m hurdles: 52.76, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA)
The races:
● Women/200 m (short sprints):
The opening race of the project was a win for Olympic champ Gabby Thomas (USA), who took over for 2019 World Champion Dina Asher-Smith (GBR) on the home straight and winning in 22.62 (wind: -0.2 m/s). Asher-Smith gave way to Paris 400 m Olympic champ Marileidy Paulino (DOM: 22.93), with Asher-Smith third in 22.96.
Paris 2024 Olympic 400 m runner-up was fourth in 22.99, with Talitha Diggs (USA: 23.30) in fifth.
● Men/400 m (long sprints):
Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) took off from the gun and had the lead through the second turn, but then World Indoor Champion Chris Bailey of the U.S. pushed hard into the home straight and ran away to win in a world-leading 44.34.
Hudson-Smith held on for second in 44.65, with Vernon Norwood of the U.S. was a very close third in 44.70. Jamaican Zandrion Barnes was fourth in 45.11, but was disqualified, so Botswana’s Busang Kebinatshipi moved up, timed in 45.15.
Bailey was impressive, coming off his strong indoor season
● Women/3,000 m (long distance):
Kenya’s road 10 km world-record holder Agnes Negtich (KEN), and Ethiopians Ejgayehu Taye and Paris 10,000 m Olympian Tsige Gebreselama broke away by three laps to go, and then Gebreselama dropped with a lap and a half to go.
By the bell, it was the two together, but Taye – the Worlds 10,000 bronzer in 2023 – ran away over the final turn and won cleanly in 8:28.42, with Ngetich in a lifetime best of 8:28.75, then Gebreselama in third in 8:38.15 and Hellen Lobun (KEN) fourth at 8:42.51.
● Women/800 m (short distance):
American Heather MacLean, the U.S. 1,500 m indoor third-placer, got to the lead at 200 m, with 2024 World Indoor 1,500 m runner-up Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. coming up to challenge at the bell, and took the lead on the back straight.
Hiltz stayed in the lead into the final turn, with Ethiopian star Diribe Welteji, the World Indoor 1,500 silver winner, coming hard, but not hard enough and Hiltz got to the line first in a world-leading 1:58.23, with Welteji at 1:59.28. Olympic 1,500 m runner-up Jess Hull (AUS) got a lifetime best of 1:58.58 in third, with American Sage Hurta-Klecker getting fourth in 1:59.26.
● Men/400 m hurdles (long hurdles):
Brazil’s 2022 World Champion Alison dos Santos was the obvious favorite, but he was second to NCAA champ Caleb Dean of the U.S. all the way through the seven hurdle. But off the turn, dos Santos went to the lead and cruised home with a clear win in a world-leading 47.61.
Jamaican Olympian Roshawn Clarke moved past Dean into second at 48.20, with Dean closing back up for third in 48.58 and Malik James-King (JAM) fourth in 48.69.
● Women/400 m hurdles (long hurdles):
All eyes were on U.S. superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the face of the project, running her first hurdles race since her Olympic triumph in Paris.
Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton, fifth in the Paris Olympic final, led on the backstraight, but McLaughlin-Levrone was in control around the turn and into the straight, winning in a world-leading 52.76.
Rio 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, who said on Thursday that she would retire after the 2025 season, came on in the final straight and got a very creditable second in 54.59. Clayton was third in 55.02, ahead of teammate Andrenette Knight (55.06).
● Men/5,000 m (long distance):
This turned out to be a tactical, slow race, with Cooper Teare of the U.S. leading, but everyone waiting for the bell. Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver winner, had the lead for a while, but with everyone in contact (and mostly jogging).
Ethiopia’s Telahun Haile Bekele, fourth at the 2019 Worlds, was in front with two laps left, but at the bell, Ethiopia’s 2016 Olympic bronzer Hagos Gebrhiwet flew into the lead onto the back straight, chased by Americans Dylan Jacobs and indoor star Grant Fisher.
Onto the final straight, Jacobs got past Gebrhiwet and then Fisher and Teare came up to run four abreast with 40 m to go. Fisher got to the line with a hard sprint in the final 20 m – and a 51.5 last lap – in 14:39.14, ahead of Teare (14:39.31) and Jacobs (14:39.56), an American sweep. Gebrhiwet ended up fourth in 14:40.20.
● Men/100 m (short sprints):
The crowd was hoping for home favorite Oblique Seville, the two-time Worlds fourth-placer, but it was Jamaican Ackeem Blake who got the best start in lane seven. American 200 m star Kenny Bednarek, the Paris silver medalist at 200 m and seventh in the 100, got to the front and stayed there.
Seville moved up close, but Bednarek stayed in front and won in 10.07 (-1.3 m/s), with Seville at 10.08, Britain’s 2023 Worlds bronzer Zharnel Hughes third (10.13) and Blake fourth in 10.13. Fred Kerley of the U.S., the 2022 World Champion and Olympic bronze winner in Paris, was left in the blocks and was seventh in 10.30.
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Scoring in each event group (two races) is 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and the placers in each group will win $100,000-50,000-30,000-25,000-20,000-15,000-12,500-10,000.
Saturday’s meet will start at 6 p.m. Eastern on Peacock and The CW, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, also on Peacock and The CW.
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