Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about competing in Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track…Full Details

Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is set for its inaugural season in 2025 – but what is it all about, what does it mean for athletics and could it come to the UK?

American four-time Olympic champion Johnson launched Grand Slam Track in June, before athletics’ quadrennial moment in the global spotlight at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In a bid to harness the attention and excitement the sport generates every four years at the Games, Johnson’s goal is to maintain that interest by gathering the world’s fastest athletes at four three-day events each year.

“My objective is to create the opportunities that athletes have always wanted and to put them on a stage that is worthy of their greatness, with races that mean something,” Johnson told BBC Sport.

“To do that you have to have the best competing against each other. That is what is compelling about the biggest sports in the world. That’s what we’re creating.”

Big-name announcements and lucrative prize money have helped build hype, while other stakeholders have been forced to react and those omitted have voiced criticism.

Through more regular head-to-head showdowns between the world’s fastest men and women, Grand Slam Track aims to intensify competition and rivalries between athletes who might otherwise rarely meet – to benefit them and fans.

As an ex-competitor, Johnson, who has worked for BBC Sport as a pundit since 2001, also wants to ensure athletes are appropriately rewarded financially.

In addition to a $12.6m (£10m) prize pot, 48 contracted ‘racers’ will receive a base salary to compete at all four slams.

How will it work? At each slam the racers are joined by 48 challengers in one of six groups of men and women – they are short and long sprints, short and long hurdles, and short and long distance – with each athlete running in two events.

Athletes receive points for their finishing position in both races. The combined results determine each slam’s champion – and the recipient of $100,000 (£79,500).