 | Today we're looking at a disruptive new track league fronted by a sprinting legend. Plus, Alex Ovechkin inches closer to the goals record, the CFL hires a new commissioner, and Canada climbs to first place at the men's curling world championship. | | | A new track league launches this week — can it change the sport?
| | | Michael Johnson thinks the world of professional track is ripe for disruption. His chance to prove it starts this weekend when Grand Slam Track, a new series fronted by the American sprinting great, makes its debut in Jamaica.
The underlying concept behind Grand Slam Track is to, a la tennis and golf, bring together the world's top sprinters and distance runners for four marquee events each year. Following the inaugural meet this Friday evening through Sunday in the sprinting hotbed of Kingston, the series continues with U.S. stops in Miami (May 2-4), Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29).
Like any disruptor, Grand Slam Track thinks it can fill a demand that the current industry leaders are not quite satisfying.
Track's big problem at the moment, as Johnson sees it, is that the sport's biggest stars compete against each other far too seldomly. And he's right: the world championships generally take place only in odd-numbered years, and the Summer Olympics come around just once every four years.
Of course, there are many other events for professionals to earn a living in. But the pre-existing pro circuit, the Diamond League, is a far-flung series of 15 meets that allows athletes to pick and choose which ones they enter. This can lead to top rivals ducking each other in pursuit of easier paydays, which obviously isn't great for fans.
Meanwhile, some athletes aren't happy with what the Diamond League is paying them. This year, most winners will receive $10,000 US at the regular meets and $30,000 at the season-ending Final, and the total prize pool is $9.24 million.
Grand Slam Track is offering a total of $12.6 million in prize money, including $100,000 to the winner of each event group (more on that later) at every meet.
“It’s providing the fans and the athletes with what they’ve been asking for,” Johnson said.
How it works:
Johnson's series has signed 48 elite athletes (four in each of the six event groups for both men and women) as Grand Slam Track "Racers" who receive a base salary in exchange for appearing in all four Slams. They'll be joined by a rotating cast of "Challengers" who are paid only for the Slams they appear in while also competing for full prize money.
At each Slam, the athletes are divided into six event groups that each feature two different races over the course of the three-day meet. All athletes compete in both of their races.
The short sprints group does a 100m and a 200m. For long sprints, it's 200m and 400m. Short distance is 800m and 1,500m, while long distance is 3,000m and 5,000m. Short hurdles involves either a 110m (for men) or 100m (for women) hurdles race plus a flat 100m. Long hurdles is a 400m hurdles and a flat 400m. There are no field events — just track.
Athletes accumulate points based on their placing in each of their two races, and those points determine who wins that Slam and how much money everyone gets. Times don't really matter, and there are no rabbits or pacing lights. Athletes will also not wear bibs, a traditional but clunky part of the track athlete's ensemble that Johnson thinks is silly. "The fastest, most efficient athletes in the world compete with a piece of paper safety-pinned on," he scoffs. "It just reeks of amateurism."
Who's competing:
Grand Slam Track's unique format and some of those smaller innovations all sound pretty good. But this is a star-driven sport, so the new series' future may hinge on how many of the biggest names it can attract. So far, the results there aren't the greatest.
GST made a splash by signing a couple of American women's stars — Olympic 400m hurdles champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and 200m gold medallist Gabby Thomas. And the roster of 48 permanent Racers also features high-profile American men's sprinters Fred Kerley (a two-time Olympic medallist in the 100m), Kenny Bednarek (back-to-back Olympic silvers in the 200m) and Quincy Hall (the Olympic 400m champ). The short distance contingent includes surprise Olympic 1,500m champion Cole Hocker of the U.S. and 800m silver medallist Marco Arop, the only Canadian full-timer.
But Grand Slam Track failed to land the biggest star in the sport — Olympic men's 100m champ Noah Lyles — or the man he beat in a photo finish to win gold in Paris — Jamaica's Kishane Thompson. Also missing are Olympic women's 100m champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, attention-grabbing American Sha'Carri Richardson, Norwegian distance star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Kenyan 1,500m icon Faith Kipyegon. In fact, only six of the 20 Olympic track gold medallists in Paris last summer are on the payroll.
There was a thought that GST might try to juice its startlists with some big names from outside the track world — maybe NFL star Tyreek Hill, who has challenged Lyles to a 60m race, or YouTuber IShowSpeed, who recently raced Lyles for $100,000.
But Johnson said that while celebrity athletes (or celebrity/athletes) are welcome to compete in some exhibition races during GST meets, they won't be included in the main events. "Track athletes are the fastest people on the planet," he said. "We're not going to be putting content creators and people like that in the race with our professional track athletes."
How to watch:
You can catch every Grand Slam track event this season on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. The inaugural meet in Jamaica begins Friday at 6 p.m. ET and continues Saturday at 6 p.m. ET and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
Canada's Marco Arop is competing in the short distance races (800m and 1,500m), while Charles Philibert-Thiboutot is a Challenger in the long distance group (5,000m and 3,000m) this week. Here's the schedule and list of competitors.
For more on Grand Slam track, read this primer from CBC Sports' Justin Piercy and watch Michael Johnson's full interview with Morgan Campbell. | | |  | American sprinting legend Michael Johnson, seen here with his wife, Armine Shamiryan, is the frontman for the new Grand Slam Track league. (Manu Fernandez/Associated Press)
| | | Quickly…
| | | Some other things to know:
1. Alex Ovechkin is four goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record.
Ovechkin scored his 891st career regular-season goal last night in Washington's 4-3 win at Boston, inching him closer to Gretzky's hallowed all-time NHL record. The first-period tap-in was Ovechkin's 12th goal in his last 18 games.
Despite missing six weeks with a broken leg, Ovechkin is tied for fourth in the league this season with 38 goals in 58 games. He's on pace to surpass Gretzky in Washington's second-last game of the season, on April 15 at the New York Islanders. The Capitals visit the Carolina Hurricanes tonight.
In other NHL news, the league confirmed it has reached a new 12-year, $11-billion Cdn agreement with Rogers for the exclusive Canadian television and streaming rights to all nationally-broadcast games. It begins when Rogers' current 12-year, $5.2-billion contract expires after the 2025-26 season. Here's more on the new rights deal, including how the CBC may or may not fit in.
2. The CFL hired a new commissioner.
Stewart Johnston, the president of TSN for the last 15 years, was named today as the successor to Randy Ambrosie, who announced in October his intention to retire once a replacement was found.
Ambrosie, 62, played nine seasons as an offensive lineman in the CFL before becoming commissioner in 2017. Johnston, 54, began working at TSN as an intern in 1997 before ascending to the top job with the sports broadcaster.
TSN has held the exclusive rights to broadcast CFL games in Canada since 2008. The current deal runs through the 2026 season and earns the league a reported $50 million per year. Here's more on the new commissioner.
3. Canada moved into first place at the men's curling world championship.
After suffering his first loss on Monday against 2023 world champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland, Canadian skip Brad Jacobs beat defending champ Nik Edin of Sweden and 2024 bronze medallist Joël Retornaz of Italy yesterday to improve to 5-1.
This morning in Moose Jaw, Sask., Jacobs and his teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert defeated Norway 8-3 to move into a first-place tie with China at 6-1.
Canada plays the Czech Republic (4-3) tonight at 9 p.m. ET before facing the Chinese on Thursday morning. Here's the latest from the worlds.
| | | That's it for today. Talk to you tomorrow.
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