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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡
“I love this sport. But I have had time to reconcile the fact that if we continue to just do the same thing, tell people that ‘you should love this’ or ‘you should understand this’ – that doesn’t work.
“Grand Slam Track is track, that is what we’re doing. I am going to save what I think I can save; I think I can save track, I don’t think I can save track and field.
“Putting the two together works at the Olympics and World Championships, but I’m not sure it works when you’re trying to create a professional sport outside of those global competitions.”
That’s Atlanta 1996 Olympic sprint star Michael Johnson, from an interview with the BBC in which he explains what his Grand Slam Track project is working toward as it readies for its first season in 2025.
There will be four Grand Slam Track meets – each a three-day program – in 2025, which he said grew out of discussions with a lot of people, including from the World Athletics governing body:
“We have had numerous conversations with World Athletics and we have listened to a lot of what they have said over the years. They want to grow the sport in the U.S., for athletes to be paid more, to encourage more innovation in the sport.
“When we sat down to build Grand Slam Track we listened to that; we built Grand Slam Track to do all those things.”
The schedule for 2025 is now set:
● 04-06 April: National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica
● 02-04 May: Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida
● 30 May-01: Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
● 27-29 June: UCLA’s Drake Stadium in Los Angeles, California
The Grand Slam Track meets will include 96 athletes in track events only: 48 seasonally-contracted “Racers” (38 signed so far) 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.
Johnson said that UK Athletics did not refuse to have a Grand Slam Track meet in Britain; he explained:
“We engaged with 10 interested cities around the globe and we decided for year one that we wanted to focus our energy on the U.S.”
The Grand Slam Track format purposely did not include any field events or combined events, and does not include the 3,000 m Steeplechase or the 10,000 m. That has drawn criticism, of course, from athletes in those disciplines, but Johnson’s view of what can be attractive to new fans is a concentrated racing experience, unburdened by the traditional “three-ring circus” of track & field meets with multiple events going on at the same time.
Grand Slam Track has said that tickets for the 2025 meets will go on sale on 6 December. Johnson added:
“My objective is to create the opportunities that athletes have always wanted and to put them on a stage that is worthy of their greatness, with races that mean something.”
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