We all know Michael Johnson, one of the greatest athletes in the history of track and field and sports in general.
Just as a reminder, he won four Olympic gold medals (in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m) and eight World Championships gold medals (in the same disciplines).
He set a 200m World Record in 1996 that would take Usain Bolt 14 years to break. Wayde van Niekerk took almost 17 years to break Johnson’s 200m record.
Michael has been involved with track and field a long time since he stopped being a competitive athlete. Since 2001 he is a pundit for the BBC, where he covers a variety of track and field events, including the Olympics.
Pre-announcing a new track league
Back in February, Michael Johnson announced this on his social media:
BIG things coming to professional track & field!!! https://t.co/NVTfI6tVfw pic.twitter.com/yZjVnBjyxM
— Michael Johnson (@MJGold) February 27, 2024
“Just wanted to let you know about mynew track venture. I teamed up with some great partners and together we are making the biggest investment ever into professional track and field, to build a professional, truly fans-focused league that will unlock the most value for the best track and field athletes in the world.”
He then linked to an article on Sportico with more details.
The promise
This February announcement came with some information about the new league, but not everything. These were the important points:
- Track and Field has a very large following, but only during events such as the Olympics and the World Championships;
- Fans struggle to follow their favorite athletes because of irregular TV coverage;
- Athletes face financial difficulties to sustain their careers;
- Winners Alliance is the partner in this venture, already making the largest investment in track and field history (in April we learned this figure to be $30M);
- They will create a new league in 2025;
- The league will have a format that is TV and fan friendly;
- It will focus on the athletes, trying to elevate their status globally;
- It will have good prizes for the winners.
In the meantime
In the meantime, Johnson has used his social media to highlights some of the issues the athletes (and track and field as a sport) are facing in the current situation.
He’s also been sharing messages from other protagonists of the sports who also are worried for the state of track and field.
There’s this interview with Usain Bolt, where he says “track and field needs the attention because I think our sport goes under the radar.”
“Track and field needs the attention because I think our sport goes under the radar.”
An interview with @usainbolt in Jamaica 🇯🇲
💬 Why track and field needs to evolve and there needs to be a change of scenery
⚡️ Praises @LylesNoah on trying to do different things and advice… pic.twitter.com/nhFt3aLzh9
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 22, 2024
Or when he retweeted Noah Lyles, asking “I haven’t seen one commercial for the Track & Field Olympic trials. Is it just me?”.
I haven’t see one commercial for the T&F Olympic trials. Is that just me?
— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) March 29, 2024
Another thing that happened in this time, is World Athletics declaring, in April, that they will offer $50k per gold medal won in Paris, and it’s planning to extend prize money to silver and bronze starting at the LA 2028 game.
Finally, enter the Grand Slam Track
Michael Johnson has finally revealed the details of the new league – called Grand Slam Track – this week.
This is how it will work.
- The league will have 4 meets, called “Slams”.
- 2 Slams will be in the US, 2 elsewhere.
- There will be 96 athletes involved in each Slam.
- Grand Slam Track (GST) will contract 48 athletes as “core racers”.
- The Core Racers will receive an annual base compensation from the League and obviously will be competing for prize money.
- The other 48 athletes will be chosen event by event based on recent performance and interesting matchups. They are called “Challengers”.
- Challengers will receive an appearance fee for each Slam they participate in, plus are eligible to win the full prize money.
What events will be in the Grand Slam Track?
Let’s now look at the event categories:
- Short sprints – 100m / 200m
- Short hurdles – 100m hurdles (F) or 110m hurdles (M) / 100 meters
- Long sprints – 200m / 400m
- Long hurdles – 400m hurdles / 400m
- Short distance – 800m / 1500m
- Long distance – 3000m/5000m
As you notice, there are no field events (no jumping, no throwing). We will come back to this later.
Each athlete will compete (over 2 days) in the two races of their event category.
So if you race the 100m, you also race the 200m. If you race the 400 hurdles, you also run the 400 flat.
This is the part I am not so sure about. But definitely it is an innovation.
The final placement for the Slam will be the sum of the points achieved in each of their two races. Points are assigned as follows:
- First place – 10 points
- Second place – 8 points
- Third place – 6 points
- Fourth place – 5 points
- Fifth place – 4 points
- Sixth place – 3 points
- Seventh place – 2 points
- Eighth place – 1 point
In case of a tie, the total time of the two races combined counts, and (you guessed it) the fastest one wins.
What about prize money?
The winner of each Slam category will earn $100,000. That is literally an order of magnitude higher than what the Diamond League offers their winners: $10,000.
Each Slam is independent and does not carry over points or times or placements to successive Slam events.
No field events at all
Michael Johnson has been asked about it, and his reasoning is clear.
There needs to be one event at a time, with all the attention going to it. Currently, field events take place at the same time as the track events, and only highlights or the very final stages of a race are really shown to viewers.
Since the Grand Slam Track is meant to be a 2:30 – 3 hour event, there is no time to focus on jumping and throwing.
This has the potential to be big
Aside from the Olympics, World Championships and regional Championships (such as the European Championships that just concluded last week), the biggest track and field stars compete each year in the Diamond League.
The issue with the Diamond League is that not every “champion” participates in all events. There will always be big names participating, but very rarely there will be real competitive match-ups.
By contracting (potentially) the 4 best athletes in each event category, fans know that each of the Slams will have 4 of the best competing against each other – in a competition for real money, where results count. Plus 4 other elite athletes selected for each event.
Grand Slam Track is still looking for streaming or broadcasting partners. Or if they have found them already, they haven’t announced it.
Each “day” of a Slam will be two and a half to three hours long.
Other interesting things
– No pacers or pace lights. It’s about the competition, not the times.
– No bibs, no safety pins!
– Racers will have their own sponsored kit – not their national or their club kit. This is extremely interesting for the sponsor.
Personally, as a massive track fan, I look forward to these Slams. I believe the key will be the ability to indeed sign up the athletes that people want to watch, for the rivalries that make this sport great.
I’m sad to see no field event included – but I believe if this enterprise is successful, both for the athletes, the fans and the league, maybe new Slams can be created or even a league for then (Grand Slam Field? You’re welcome Michael Johnson).
Are you a track fan? What do you think of the Grand Slam Track?
