Remember when Tara-Davis Woodhall called out Michael Johnson in January? “You are ruining the sport if you are trying to save just track… It’s track and field for a reason!” Her husband, Hunter Woodhall, even suggested that Johnson was just making noise to stay relevant. Well, guess what just happened? Grand Slam Track launched in Kingston, Jamaica on April 4th, and now Hunter’s got something fresh to say about it!

Hunter Woodhall shared an Instagram story today featuring a track race with colorful lanes and empty stands, which he deleted later. His caption, “Thank goodness he’s ‘saving’ track,” appears to be making a sarcastic remark about the empty stadium seats in the background in the video he shared. The sarcasm wasn’t subtle!

So, Grand Slam Track finally launched on April 4th in Kingston, Jamaica, and if you’d been online in the days leading up to it, you’d have thought something huge was coming. The buzz was real. Promo videos were everywhere, and fans were hyped to see big names like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Masai Russell, and Cole Hocker hit the track. And then came the big moment: Gabby Thomas lining up for the women’s 200m, the very first race of the entire series. You could feel the anticipation through your screen. It was electric! Jamaica made perfect sense for the debut, right? Michael Johnson chose Kingston for a reason. This is the land of sprinting legends. Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Asafa Powell… it doesn’t get more iconic. And with 35,000 seats at the National Stadium, it felt like the perfect setting.

But here’s the thing: those seats? They were mostly empty. We don’t know the reasons yet! But one thing is for sure. That didn’t go unnoticed. Especially not by those who had already been skeptical about Grand Slam Track’s vision. One of the loudest voices? Tara-Davis Woodhall. And she’s been speaking up since January, and her frustration? Not uncalled!

Tara-Davis Woodhall is a long jumper, someone who’s spent years mastering the art of flight and landing. And to see the spotlight only shine on the track side of things, sprints, middle distance, relays, while field events like hers get pushed aside? That stings. But MJ has his reasons, too.

Michael Johnson clarifies why he skipped ‘field’ events in Grand Slam Track

When American sprint legend Michael Johnson introduced his Grand Slam Track (GST) league, one thing was very clear: it’s all track, no field. That sparked criticism from some corners, and Johnson’s response? Well, he explained his reasoning in detail to BBC Sport last year. “I love this sport. But I have had time to reconcile the fact that if we continue to just do the same thing, tell people that ‘you should love this’ or ‘you should understand this’ – that doesn’t work,” he said.

He admitted that dropping field events wasn’t about disrespect. It was about making things work in today’s world of fast, digestible sports content. “Grand Slam Track is track, that is what we’re doing. I am going to save what I think I can save; I think I can save track, I don’t think I can save track and field.”

And that’s not all. He argued for combining both works at global events like the Olympics, but it might not hold for a standalone league. “Putting the two together works at the Olympics and World Championships, but I’m not sure it works when you’re trying to create a professional sport outside of those global competitions.”

According to him, field events pose challenges for broadcasters. Field events, Johnson said, are just hard to televise. “My objective is to make the sport of track and field more popular, but you have to pick your battles to do that. Based on today’s audience, if you were going to build a sport, then you would not build ‘track and field’ because it would not work.”