Usually, veteran athletes don’t let the glitz of the athletic contests blind themselves. They know the actual reality as they have survived in the professional circuit for many years. Michael Johnson comes as one of those veterans. The 56-year-old American legend remained a standout performer in his sporting days and now, being a close-watcher of the sport, he knows the loose ends. His brainchild contest, Grand Slam Track, is on the card to tighten some of those. Still, as per him, the problem of track and field sports is deep-rooted. 

Recently, Winners Alliance, the stakeholder in hosting the proposed Grand Slam Track, published a 37-second snippet framing Michael Johnson explaining the cause of introducing the league. In the clip, he revealed several challenges in the sport. It is based on churning out the value of a track athlete using their talent and skill sets. Explaining the issue, the 4x Olympic champion termed, “It’s a real struggle.” And the solution to it should be time-tested as this problem didn’t leave Michael Johnson unscratched.

Despite being a top grain in the track world in the 1980s-90s, Johnson couldn’t evade issues like financial starvation and the highlight from the sponsors. Furthermore, because of hailing from the Black community, he faced more limited sources reaching him. Now, he wants a change and the athletes could be the sole reason to invite such changes. 

Reflecting on that mentality, in the same snippet, the legend added, “The sport of track and field doesn’t create value for you. You’ve got to create it yourself.” In the past, the six-time world champion sprinter Noah Lyles had also revealed a similar tone, explaining the need to add more entertaining values in the track and field. But now, Michael Johnson is presenting an option in the veil of Grand Slam Track that might bring all the chances a track athlete needs to make his/her professionally stable- “What we want to do is help our athletes to create that value by giving them the opportunity to showcase their talent four times a year,” as he mentioned. So what’s the specialty Grand Slam Track is going to add? 

Michael Johnson keeps GST’s niche acceptable 

As far as the basic structure of the Grand Slam Track is concerned, the winner in each Slam bracket will take $100,000 prize money home, which is far bigger than the prize money World Athletics’ new league has promised. Moreover, the WA’s league will be a biennial contest. But GST will happen four times a year. So, if an athlete wins four Slams in the year, he/she will pocket a staggering $400,000. Apart from that lucrative sum as the prize money, the GST will give some more chances to put dimes in the locker. 

One of the proposed ways will be the base compensation amount for the Racers. The Racers will gain their selection after the GST Racing Committee makes the final decision. However, each of the 48 athletes in that quota, who will participate in all four Slams in the calendar, will have their chance to keep their hands on the base compensation. Additionally, all contestants can use their own sporting kits in the GST to smoothen cash flow further. For the Challengers, there will be a unique arrangement. 

As per the regulations, the 48 Challengers will be selected based on their current performances. However, they will get an appearance fee for participating in each Slam. In their case as well, the prize amount will remain the same. As far as the current situation stands, Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone and Josh Kerr have already signed up for the GST. Now the Michael Johnson commissioned authority is expecting a few more names to hop into its ship.