Grand Slam Track is what has been needed in athletics – Michael Johnson

By Eleanor Crooks, PA

Michael Johnson believes his Grand Slam Track series is filling a “void” in athletics and is optimistic it will continue to attract the biggest names.

The former American sprinting great hopes his new league, which will launch next year, will modernise the sport and reach a new audience.

With record prize money available for athletes competing over distances from 100 metres to 5,000m, Grand Slam Track will feature contracted stars racing at four events between April and September.

“I’m very pleased with how it’s going,” Johnson told the PA news agency. “We’ve signed half of the (athletes) that won medals in Paris already.

“So it just proves that this is what the athletes have been wanting, but more importantly you need fans and fans have been overwhelmingly positive and excited about our launch of Grand Slam Track next year.

“It’s a lot of work ahead but this is what’s been needed in the sport.”

British 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith is the latest big name to commit, joining the likes of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Josh Kerr.

But there is a lot more work to be done if Johnson’s hopes of showcasing the best against the best in every discipline is to be realised, with Noah Lyles, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Sha’Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, Femke Bol and Keely Hodgkinson among those not yet signed up.

Johnson is relaxed, saying: “We’ll continue signing athletes this year but we’re not going anywhere as well. There are athletes that may not join this year that will join next year.

“Some athletes it’s going to take them a little bit longer – we’re a different format than they’re used to, so that’s going to take some time. But I’m very pleased so far that we’re signing all of the big names and the medal winners, which is what we wanted.”

Since retiring from competing, the four-time Olympic champion has stayed involved with the sport as a pundit but devoted most of his time to entrepreneurship and investing outside athletics.

Inspired by the model of tennis and golf majors, though, Johnson, who was the keynote speaker at Bupa’s annual Healthcare Symposium on Tuesday, saw an opportunity and believes the time is now right.

He said: “I was investing myself in some other sports and I thought, ‘This is a great time for sports, a great time for sports investment, why not investment in my own sport?’

“I’ve always seen the opportunity, but the other thing was this collection of current athletes not only are amazing athletes but it’s the greatest collection of personalities that I’ve seen in quite some time.”

It remains to be seen to what degree Grand Slam Track and other initiatives such as Athlos, a women-only competition launched this year by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, will shake up the calendar.

The Diamond League, currently the leading race series outside of major events, has already announced it will increase its prize money for next year.

Johnson does not see it so much as competition, saying: “I see us filling a void that has existed in this sport where you rarely get an opportunity outside of the major global championships to see the best athletes competing against one another.

“I think it will drive the sport forward. There’s a common assumption that the hierarchy in the sport is happy with the way that it is and something that comes in new is disruptive to that in a negative way.

“I think it’s quite the opposite for our sport. If you listen to what the hierarchy of the sport has been talking about the last few years, it’s saying, ‘Hey, we need more people to come in, we need more investment, we need more innovation, we need to grow the sport in the US, the biggest market in the world’. And those are all things we’re doing.”

Health is another area Johnson is passionate about having suffered a stroke in 2018 that left him needing to learn to walk again.

He credits his underlying health for helping him make a remarkably swift recovery and is also a strong believer in the benefits of digital innovation in the field, including Bupa’s Blua platform, which offers remote healthcare and virtual appointments.

“I recognise the platform that I have and, if I can help others, that’s certainly important to me,” he said.