The new track league backed by sprint great Michael Johnson will feature the entire podium from the Olympic 1,500 meters after signing Americans Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse.
Grand Slam Track will hold four races a year starting in 2025 and is seeking 48 “GST Racers” who will sign contracts and compete in all the events, with $100,000 prizes going to top finishers.
In one of the most exciting races of the Paris Games, Hocker took gold when he passed Britain’s Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen down the stretch of the 1,500. Kerr, who finished second, has previously signed with the league. Nuguse, who also passed Ingebrigtsen during the frantic finish, won the bronze medal.
Olympic-champion hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was the first racer to sign on with GST, and more announcements are expected.
“As we all saw this summer, the metric mile is back,” Johnson said Wednesday, in referencing the upset Hocker sprung after all the pre-race hype involved the rivalry between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen.
Grand Slam Track has secured more than $30 million in investments and is promising a prize pool of more than $12.6 million for 2025.
The plan is to augment the 48 signed athletes with 48 “GST Challengers” who will receive appearance fees to compete at individual meets. All racers will compete in two events over a three-day stretch — for instance, Hocker and Co., would race at 800 and 1,500 meters — with champions determined by their combined finishing order in the two races.
Johnson is trying to fill a longstanding gap in track, which takes the spotlight every four years at the Olympics but largely fades out — especially in the United States — in between Games.
“The world is looking for something like this (and) we can step into that void,” Johnson said earlier this summer when the league was introduced.
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