ATHLETICS: Ohanian calls out Grand Slam Track for requiring permission “to compete in other leagues”

Host John Anderson and Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson at the 18 June launch event (Grand Slam Track video screenshot)

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The Athlos NYC meet in New York on 26 September was a compact showcase for women’s track & field, with 36 athletes in six events and lots of fireworks, interviews and razzle-dazzle, followed by a Megan Thee Stallion concert.

It drew respectably, with about 4,000 fans at Icahn Stadium and more on online platforms: viewing peaked on YouTube during the meet at about 5,000, and on X (ex-Twitter) after the final event – the women’s 200 m – at 116,500.

Meet promoter – and Reddit co-founder – Alexis Ohanian was excited about the reception for the first-time event, but has demurred on specific plans for 2025 and whether he plans to expand the concept.

But he took exception on X (ex-Twitter) last week about a competition restriction in the forthcoming Grand Slam Track project to debut in 2025:

“hey @MJGold [Michael Johnson] I loved seeing you + @BillAckman fast follow @ATHLOS by launching @GrandSlamTrack (great to see more people investing in athletics!), but it’s disappointing you’re requiring these women to get permission from you & Bill in order to compete in other leagues. It’s not very athlete-friendly.”

He added in subsequent posts (shown as posted):

● “You’re an Olympic legend and I hope you’ll reconsider. It’s so much better for the sport to give these women more options and not fewer – especially while it’s still so under-invested-in.”

“I personally see prohibiting athletes from competing in another league as a sign of weakness. Great ideas should win in the freemarket. I can’t fathom putting in the reddit terms of service ‘you must ask our permission before making a Digg account.’”

No response as yet from Johnson, Ackman or Grand Slam Track, which is a totally different concept; Ohanian’s cheeky chide about following his idea to support track & field is silly as Johnson has been drumming up support for his Grand Slam Track concept for a couple of years.

But Ohanian’s comment is the first notice about competition restrictions in Grand Slam Track contracts:

● Ohanian’s Athlos NYC meet was a one-day event with six events only, so it’s hardly another league. Grand Slam Track itself is only four events per year, with one meet to be in Los Angeles and three elsewhere; no dates have been given, with the series to start in 2025.

● Johnson was asked at the June launch of his project about his four-event program will fit in with the existing Diamond League, World Athletics Continental League and other meets. He explained:

“There has not been a specific league for the best-of-the-best athletes. … The true fastest athletes deserve their own league, and that doesn’t exist. And that’s what this is.

“This can sit alongside everything else that exists in the sport. There is a need for those races within the sport, but for these athletes, there’s also a need – the best of the best – to have their own league.”

The 2024 track & field season is over and the indoor season is three months away; Johnson has promised more information about the Grand Slam Track schedule and locations. But the Diamond League schedule is out, with 15 meets strewn over 18 weeks from the end of April through the end of August, creating potential conflicts.

One more factor to consider: athletes earn World Athletics world ranking points for placements in the Diamond League and Continental Tour, an inducement to compete in those meets, but generally needed only if an athlete has not reached a qualifying standard in an event. As the qualifying standards gets harder and harder, will conflicts between the Grand Slam Track events – for which no world-ranking points will be given – and other meets create difficulties for some athletes for reaching the World Athletics Championships?

For now, this is all hypothetical and clever scheduling by Grand Slam Track can avoid any and all issues. But with competition restrictions part of the Grand Slam Track agreements – according to Ohanian – there is a whole new set of questions to ask about next season.

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