What you need to know about (and how to watch) Grand Slam Track
CBC
Some of the world's best track athletes compete in a new professional league that makes its debut this week.
Here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about Grand Slam Track before its first stop in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday.
Grand Slam Track is the brainchild of American sprinting great, Michael Johnson. The four-time Olympic champion and eight-time world champion believes that track has had a problem getting its biggest stars to compete against one another outside of the Olympic Games and world championships.
Johnson, who is also commissioner of the new league, told The Wall Street Journal in 2024 that the objective "is to provide that sort of head-to-head competition, that drama, the stakes, and tell those stories around all of that compelling drama as well – four times a year."
Johnson went into more detail about the 'why' of Grand Slam Track in an interview with CBC Sports contributor Morgan Campbell:
WATCH | Johnson discusses his new pro track league:
There are several differences, but the main contrasts are:
As the name might imply, the Grand Slam Track season is contested over four meets in four different cities. A total of 96 athletes will compete – 48 men and 48 women.
With the abovementioned emphasis on 'head-to-head matchups,' half of those runners (24 men and 24 women) have committed to run at every stop on the Grand Slam circuit. Those particular athletes are called 'racers.'
The other half of the field, called 'challengers,' will be selected on a per-Slam basis. The criteria for the selection of challengers considers recent performances and athletes who would create intriguing matchups.
All athletes will compete in one of six event groups:
Each group will have its eight athletes run the two different events at each Grand Slam meet. Runners will collect points for their results in each event, which are based on a sliding scale:
The runner with the most cumulative points from their two races at a Grand Slam is declared the winner of their event group and declared a Slam champion.
By the end of the season, the two competitors who earn the most points across all Slams – one from the men's groups and one from the women's groups – will be crowned 'Racer of the Year.'
