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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡
The Miami area will be the third announced location for the inaugural season of Grand Slam Track, which announced Tuesday that the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida will be the site for a 2-4 May 2025 meet.
Jamaica’s National Stadium was announced Monday as the site for a 4-5-6 April meet, and with Los Angeles previously announced, but without a date or site yet, three of the four first-year sites have been identified.
The fourth is to be announced this week.
The schedule has artfully avoided clashes with the Diamond League schedule of 15 meets, which runs from April through September. The combined early-season schedule of championship, Grand Slam and Diamond League meets so far shows:
● 21-23 March: World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing (CHN)
● 04-06 April: Grand Slam Track in Kingston, Jamaica
● 26 April: Diamond League I in Xiamen (CHN)
● 02-04 May: Grand Slam Track in Miramar, Florida
● 03 May: Diamond League II in Suzhou (CHN)
● 10-11 May: World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou (CHN)
● 16 May: Diamond League III in Doha (QAT)
● 25 May: Diamond League IV in Rabat (MAR)
If Grand Slam Track were to maintain the once-a-month schedule, it would mirror what the PGA does with the annual golf majors, with The Masters in April, followed by the PGA Championship, then the U.S. Open and the British Open. The tennis Grand Slams are spread out throughout the year, with the Australian Open in January, the French Open in May, Wimbledon in July and the U.S. Open in September.
The new announced stadia are quite different. Jamaica’s National Stadium seats 28,500 and was built for the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games. The Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar – 22 miles northwest of Miami – was opened in 2009 and seats about 5,000.
The meet will include 96 athletes in track events only: 48 seasonally-contracted “Racers” and 48 single-meet “Challengers” in a two-race format:
“Racers and Challengers will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories, and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100 m/200 m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100 m), long sprints (200 m/400 m), long hurdles (400H/400 m), short distance (800 m/1500 m), or long distance (3000 m/5000 m).”
Prize money of $100,000 down to $10,000 for eighth place will be available in each race.
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