These will be the four locations for Michael Johnson’s brand new professional track league in 2025
Grand Slam Track has confirmed the four cities that will host its Slams next season, with every one of them taking place in the Americas.
Three of the sites will be in the US – Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles – while the inaugural three-day meet will occur in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Jamaican capital will welcome some of the best track athletes in the world between April 4-6 at the National Stadium in Independence Park.
The meet in Kingston also occurs a few weeks before the first Diamond League next season, which is in Xiamen on April 26.
The National Stadium in Jamaica has experience of hosting incredible events, from the Racers Grand Prix and Jamaican National Championships to the ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships (better known as ‘Champs’).
Champs in Kingston, Jamaica (Euan Crumley)
Grand Slam Track will then make the trip to Miramar/Miami, with the three-day meet taking place between May 2-4.
The Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar has a seating capacity of over 5000 and it’s expected that organisers at Grand Slam Track will add temporary seating to the venue.
The event in Miramar also occurs on the same weekend as the Miami Grand Prix, with the athletics complex just a seven mile journey away from the Miami International Autodrome, the location of the F1.
After that, Grand Slam Track moves to Philadelphia, with the 52,000 capacity Franklin Field hosting athletes between May 30-June 1.
That time period nestles neatly between the Rabat and Rome Diamond Leagues, which occur on May 25 and June 6 respectively.
Franklin Field is synonymous with the Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track and field competition in the US, hosted annually since 1895.
Team Jamaica at 2010 Penn Relays (Getty)
Los Angeles is the fourth host city for Grand Slam Track but a date for that is yet to be announced.
UK Athletics however will not be taking up Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track next season.
Jack Buckner, the governing body’s chief executive, had really good discussions with Johnson about Grand Slam Track but, for now, they just want to see how it goes.
“We know certain things about it and that seems quite US-centric at the moment, which is fine,” Buckner said. “So I think we’re interested in sustainable, innovative events and we’ll look at all of them. But they need to be viable too. If you don’t get events right, you can lose quite a lot of money quite quickly, which is what happened historically.
“So we will look at all these and see the core of it. Step one, get the Diamond League right. We just think there’s loads of potential in that to become strongly profitable.”
Michael Johnson (Grand Slam Track)
A total of 32 athletes have signed up for Grand Slam Track so far: Ackera Nugent, Roshawn Clarke, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Melissa Jefferson, Masai Russell, Quincy Hall, Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, Grant Fisher, Josh Kerr, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Nikki Hiltz, Cyrena Samba-Mayela, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Alison dos Santos, Ronald Kwemoi, Muzala Samukonga, Clement Ducos, Marileidy Paulino, Jess Hull, Daniel Roberts, Shamier Little, Marco Arop, Devon Allen, Jasmine Jones, Jereem Richards, Luis Grijalva, Rushell Clayton, Agnes Ngetich, and Tsigie Gebreselama.
All of these athletes will be Racers which means they compete in all four of the Slams and receive an annual base compensation for competing in each one, as well as being eligible for full prize money.
At Grand Slam Track there will be 48 Racers every season. They will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100m hurdles or 110m hurdles/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400m hurdles/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m).
The full schedule of the 2025 Grand Slam Track season:
Kingston – April 4-6
Miami – May 2-4
Philadelphia – May 30-June 1
Los Angeles – TBC
» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here