The 2024 track and field season saw a lot of anticipation among the crowd due to the Olympic Games. However, in 2025, there will be plenty of new events to watch out for, especially Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track. The event will feature four slams at four different locations, and the final location was revealed to be Los Angeles from June 27-29. 

However, the dates of GST have created a few questions for the track and field community, as on June 29, the New York City Grand Prix is scheduled. The track meet is one of the most popular meets in the United States and is attended by many top athletes annually. Keeping the same date of competition would pose a severe challenge to Johnson’s event, but it’s also exciting for the ample amount of audience who are waiting for these track bouts to commence.

Two top track meets to face each other

Michael Johnson has been hyping up the community since the moment he announced Grand Slam Track, which was months prior to the Paris Olympics. The announcement of the track meet was a huge move for the track legend as well as the sport overall, as it would be a one-of-a-kind event. Recently, GST has revealed the dates and the venues it will be covering throughout the 2025 season, as the first slam will feature from April 4-6 in Kingston.

The decision to not choose a location in the United States caused some controversy in the track and field community, as fans’ opinions varied widely. However, right after the first slam, GST will be hosted on US soil in Miramar from May 2-4, followed by Philadelphia from May 30 to June 1. Eventually, it was time to announce the location of the final slam, and the official X account of GST revealed it, mentioning Los Angeles, which will host the event from June 27-29.

This schedule was immediately noticed by Jonathan Gault on X, who stated how the dates are colliding with another popular event in the US, the NYC Grand Prix. The New York track meet has seen a lot of reputed sprinters running in their events annually. Whether it was Usain Bolt back then or Noah Lyles in the latest editions, the Icahn Stadium has always seen a houseful of track enthusiasts who come to watch electrifying performances from the participating athletes.

This will be a big challenge for Michael Johnson, as his newly found event will be going head-to-head against one of the most anticipated track meets out there. However, the track legend won’t be backing off from any competition, as he knows the popularity he has accumulated for his event in the last months, and it will only increase in the days leading up to the slam. 

The anticipation regarding GST is a fact that track and field still have an audience that does not just tend to tune into the sport for the Olympic Games. However, there’s another intriguing factor that has made many community members speculate the track meet to have one of the biggest competitions out there in the distances, which are included in its span of four slams.

Michael Johnson’s top roster for GST

Since the beginning, Michael Johnson has focused on a certain phrase, “Only the fastest,” for the Grand Slam Track. By looking at present statistics and performances of athletes, he hired a ton of big names in the sport, starting with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The American hurdler, who has broken a lot of world records in the women’s 400mh category, represented the vision for the track meet.

Furthermore, Johnson thoroughly evaluated the performances of athletes who participated in the Olympic Games. And, right after his observation, he signed the 1500m Olympic champion Cole Hocker, including fellow Team USA athlete Yared Nuguse, as these two will line up against Great Britain’s Josh Kerr. The track legend also added Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley into the mix, who will be competing in the short distances throughout the four slams. There were a lot of more big names added to the already massive roster of top athletes, as GST would see much more anticipation from the track and field community.