Everything you need to know about the Grand Slam Track meeting in Florida
The Grand Slam Track spotlight now shifts to Miramar, Florida, where the Ansin Sports Complex will host the second leg of the prestigious event from May 2–4. It follows a month after the inaugural meet was hosted in Kingston, Jamaica where athletes competed for top prize money.
This innovative league format divides athletes into two groups: “Racers” who are contracted to compete across all four events in the series—Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles—and “Challengers,” who rotate in and out of each meet, receiving appearance fees and competing for top prize money.
To recap, these athletes are assigned to compete in one of the following categories: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100m hurdles or 110m hurdles/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400m hurdles/400m), middle distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m).
The winner of each Slam group will take home $100,000 in prize money and the eighth placed competitor will earn $10,000.
The first meet in Kingston crowned 12 athletes as champions of their respective categories, which included Matthew Hudson-Smith, Gabby Thomas, Kenny Bednarek, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Ejgayehu Taye, Grant Fisher, Diribe Welteji, Danielle Williams, Sasha Zhoya, Alison Dos Santos, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Many of these top performers are expected to return for the Miami leg of the competition.
Here’s a rundown of the athletes competing in Miami and the details of when and where you can watch the event.
Men’s Short Sprints (100m/200m)
In the short sprints category, all eyes will be on the Kingston champion Kenny Bednarek. He had a comfortable win over the 100m field (10.07) in Jamaica, before unleashing a blinding curve in the 200m for another convincing victory in 20.07 – securing the $100,000 prize.
Joining him once again is Zharnel Hughes, British record-holder in the 100m and 200m. As a Grand Slam Racer, Hughes finished second overall in Kingston and will be set to challenge for the top spot in Miami.
Rounding out the other Racers are Oblique Seville and Fred Kerley, who placed third and fourth respectively in Kingston.
This time, they will go up against Canada’s Andre De Grasse. The seven-time Olympic medallist is set to make his 100m season debut, now training under coach Mike Holloway in Florida. This will mark his first 100m…
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