If you’re a track and field fan from the USA, chances are you can’t get enough of Noah Lyles. While the 2024 Olympic gold medalist is taking a sabbatical from the tracks, his social media presence remains as emphatic as ever. However, that’s not enough to keep the fans satiated. As the post-Olympics season shapes up, track lovers want Lyles back in action, and there might just be something to make their wishes come true.

The next World Athletics Championships will be held in late 2025. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to keep the track community occupied in the meantime. Among the upcoming events, Olympic veteran Michael Johson’s ambitious Grand Slam Track is shaping up excellently and will kickstart its maiden edition in April next year. But will Lyles be a part of it?

Noah Lyles to turn up the heat with Michael Johnson?

In a YouTube upload from September 16, the hosts of the Track World News podcast discussed whether the Florida native would be a part of the four-time Olympic gold medalist’s grand plans. Noting how the GST is “getting together a really strong lineup,” hosts Collin Waitzman and Noah Williams pondered if Johnson would be able to come to an agreement about getting Lyles on the roster. “I know that Noah mentioned that he’s been in talks with Michael Johnson,” Waitzman claimed during the conversation.

Waitzman went on to note how the Grand Slam Track could become one of the biggest meets in the track world if it could rope in two of the biggest stars from the USA. “I feel the two easy ones; it’s got to be Sha’Carri and Noah Lyles,” says Waitzman, and his colleague nods in agreement. Considering how both of these athletes are running high with their successful Parisian campaigns, we’re inclined to believe that Johnson’s project would gain a massive boost with Richardson and Lyles on the list. But the retired sprinter needs to shed light on the infrastructural aspect of the GST if he wants to catch Lyles’ attention. In a recent Nightcap podcast, Lyles claimed that his agents are waiting to get more clarity on the broadcast part of next year’s event before getting the World’s Fastest Man aboard.

“If they get those two athletes, then the Grand Slam Track might become bigger than the Diamond League. If they get Sha’Carri and they get Noah Lyles, where they’re going to be committing to competing five times a year, at least in the Grand Slam Track, on top of the athletes that they already have, that is a superstar lineup. There is no other track circuit that would be able to compete with Grand Slam Track,” opines the host of the podcast. While the excitement is justified, the upcoming event does have a lot to offer, even if the two Olympic gold haulers don’t make it to the starting blocks in LA in April.

Stars who will make the GST and affair to remember

The Grand Slam Track will host its events between April and September, and each participant will compete twice over the period. Along with some of the most prominent names in the track world, the GST will also give space to rising stars who aspire to make their mark within the community. 4x Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is easily one of the biggest selling points of Johnson’s dream project.

“It’s very professionally put together, and I really feel like it’s going to elevate the platforms of the athletes that compete more than once every four years at the Olympics,” Levrone said. Along with the New Jersey residents, Olympians Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Cole Hocker, and Yared Nuguse will also be making the inaugural edition of the event a star-studded affair. Along with them, hurdling sensation Grant Holloway could also show up to increase the oomph meter.

However, things are yet to be decided with Sha’Carri Richardson. The 24-year-old sprinter is also speculated to participate in Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Athlos NYC 2024, and it’s yet to be seen if she decides to run in both tournaments. However, even without Richardson, the lineup of the track Grand Slam looks formidable, with something for every fan. But can Michael Johnson help track sports reach new heights with his ambitious dream? Only time will tell.