Kenya’s Mary Moraa, Agnes Jebet Ng’etich and Ronald Kwemoi are among dozens of world and Olympic medallists lined up for the inaugural Grand Slam Track professional athletics league that gets underway today with the Kingston meet in Jamaica.
A total of 96 athletes made up of 48 Racers and 48 Challengers, will compete in each Grand Slam, with further meets coming up in Miami on May 2-4, Philadelphia on May 30 to June 1, and Los Angeles on June 27-29.
Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson is the brains behind the Grand Slam Track that is a new track league designed to promote the sport and boost the reach of athletics outside of Olympic years, as well as providing athletes with more regular opportunities to race. The Slam will be held annually.
In each Grand Slam Track, there will be six event categories for males and females each featuring two disciplines that athletes will compete in over the course of a weekend.
There will be four “Racers," who, at the beginning of the season, will make the starting list of each of the four Grand Slam events. They have been chosen based on their world rankings and merits, and are among the best in the world.
Moraa, the world 800m champion and 2024 Diamond League Trophy winner, Ng’etich, the 10km world record holder and Kwemoi, the Paris Olympic Games 5,000m silver medallist, are categorised as “Racers.”
The other four competitors will be the "Challengers," who are emerging athletes and will be attempting to earn a spot as a Grand Slam Racer for the following season.
The “Challengers” will vary between Grand Slam events based on recent performances and potential match-ups.
Athletes will be required to participate in two events that will count for overall position at the end of each Grand Slam event.
The event has a total fund of $12.6m (about Sh1.64b) where the winners will pocket $100,000 (Sh13m), with the prize money reducing up to the eighth placed athlete who will get $10,000 (Sh1.3m).
Besides the cash rewards, points will be issued from the winner to eighth place and the athlete with the best combined score between the two events in their category will be declared the Grand Slam champion of that specific meet.
Should there be a tie, the highest individual finishing placement between the two decide the Slam winner. If there is still a tie, then lowest combined time will be utilised as a tiebreaker.
The race categories are -- sprints (100m and 200m), short hurdles (100mh, 110m, 100m flat), long sprints (200m and 400m), short distance (800m and 1,500m) and long distance (3,000m and 5,000m).
Johnson announced Grand Slam Track last year at a period where Athlos, a professional, female-only track and field series was first held at Icahn Stadium in New York City on September 26, 2024.
Named after the Greek word for athletics, the first meeting was intended to highlight women's track and field and make the sport a spectator-friendly experience by simplifying the number of events down to six. It included the 100m, 100mh, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1,500m.
Triple Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Chepng’etich won the women’s 1,500m with compatriot Susan Ejore coming third while Moraa finished second in women’s 800m behind Ethiopia’s Deribe Welteji.
Moraa will once again face Welteji, Juss Hull from Australia and America Nikki Hiltz, who are the “Racers” in 800m and 1,500m.
Others are Ejore, Sage Hurta-Klecker, Heather MacLean and Natoya Goule-Toppin.
Ng’etich has compatriot Hellen Ekalale, Tsigie Gebreselama from Ethiopia, American Elise Cranny and Nozomi Tanaka of Japan in 3,000m and 5,000m while Kwemoi is up against Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia in men’s 3,000m and 5,000m.
American hurdler and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, 2024 Olympic gold medallists Cole Hocker, and Gabby Thomas, as well as Olympic 200m silver medallists Kenny Bednarek and Daryll Neita are up for the Jamaican battle.
Also in the mix are former world 100m champion Fred Kerley, and Paris Olympics 200m bronze medallist Brittany Brown.
