Grand Slam Track to open inaugural season in Jamaica

The newest track league, Grand Slam Track (GST), has announced the date for the debut event of its 2025 season. The league will kick off April 4–6, 2025, at Jamaica’s iconic National Stadium in Kingston.

Kingston joins previously announced Los Angeles as one of the host cities for the 2025 Grand Slam Track season. Two more cities are reported to be announced later this week but are rumoured to be New York City and London/Birmingham, U.K. The four events will be spaced out throughout the 2025 track and field season in the run-up to the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next September. 

COUNTING DOWN TO KINGSTON! 🇯🇲

Grand Slam Track will be in Jamaica from April 4-6, 2025.

Be alerted when tickets drop: https://t.co/a9BSFlhASg pic.twitter.com/7K0mwKaLyp

— Grand Slam Track (@GrandSlamTrack) November 11, 2024

“We are thrilled to bring Grand Slam Track to Kingston,” GST founder and four-time U.S. Olympic champion Michael Johnson said in a press release. “Jamaica has such a strong history in track and field. The talent and passion for the sport here make it an ideal location for what we’re building. It will be an incredible event, and we’re proud to have Kingston as one of our four Slams for the inaugural season to kick off the league.”

The first of the four Slam events will feature a dynamic format where athletes compete twice in their respective divisions. Canadian 800m world champion and Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop will participate in the short-distance division, which means he will run both 800m and 1,500m events over three days. Arop will go head-to-head against other world-class athletes, such as Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, and Olympic 1,500m champion Cole Hocker.

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What is Grand Slam Track?

Grand Slam Track (GST) is modelled after professional golf and tennis, aiming to bring a series of four high-stakes events each season. The league will feature 96 elite track athletes split into two groups of 48 racers and 48 challengers. Each Slam event includes six categories, where athletes will compete in two races per category, creating exciting competition without pace-setters or lights, to encourage organic racing.

Unique to GST, athletes will race without traditional bibs to amplify individual branding, with the aim of enhancing recognition and sponsorship opportunities. With significant cash prizes on the line, those who sweep all four events in their category stand to earn up to USD $400,000.

Beyond Arop, Kerr, and Hocker, the league has attracted many other big-name athletes, such as 400m hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Olympic 400m champion Quincy Hall and Australian 1,500m standout Jessica Hull.

Though the league includes more than two dozen Olympic medallists, GST has yet to secure an official global broadcasting deal for the four meets.

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