Grand Slam Track - what is it and what does it mean for athletics?

The inaugural season of Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track begins in Jamaica on Friday - but what is it all about, what does it mean for athletics and could it come to the UK?

Four-time Olympic champion Johnson announced Grand Slam Track last June, before athletics' quadrennial moment in the global spotlight at the Paris Olympics.

In a bid to maintain the attention and excitement the sport generates every four years at the Games, Johnson will bring the world's fastest athletes together for 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, lucrative prize money and an innovative format have helped build hype before Johnson's track-only league, while athletics' other stakeholders have been forced to react and those omitted have voiced criticism.

Johnson was part of Los Angeles' successful bid to host the 2028 Olympics and the city has also been announced as a Grand Slam Track location in 2025

What is the Grand Slam Track format?

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.

As a former 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 competing in two events per slam.

Athletes receive points for their finishing position in both races, with their combined results determining the champion at each slam - and the recipient of $100,000 (£79,500).

Three of the first four host cities are in the United States, with stops in Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles following this weekend's curtain-raiser in Kingston.

American Johnson said reports suggesting UK Athletics rejected the chance to host a Grand Slam Track event were false.

"We engaged with 10 interested cities around the globe and we decided for year one that we wanted to focus our energy on the US," he said.

"We will continue to engage with interested cities. As we look to expand and rotate, that (a UK event) certainly will be a possibility."

What is the Grand Slam Track schedule?

Athletes have a global outdoor championship to target for a fifth successive year in 2025, following the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

A third World Championships in the space of four years will take place in Tokyo in September, at the end of a year which for many athletes has included a World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, in March.

The Diamond League - the sport's established professional circuit - will again hold 15 meetings in 2025 and has announced record prize money this season totalling $9.2m (£7.3m) as it bids to compete for athlete attention in a packed calendar.

The 2025 Grand Slam Track events are:

• 4-6 April: Independence Park - Kingston, Jamaica

• 2-4 May: Ansin Sports Complex - Miami, USA

• 30 May-1 June: Franklin Field - Philadelphia, USA

• 27-29 June: Drake Stadium - Los Angeles, USA

Which athletes are competing in Grand Slam Track?

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was the first racer to be announced following Grand Slam Track's launch, the 400m hurdles Olympic champion and world record holder a notable inclusion given she has raced sparingly in the past.

"What Sydney represents is the issue with the sport. When I asked why she doesn't race much she said she likes to race but, when she does, she wants it to mean something," said Johnson.

Among the standout events, the full Olympic men's 1500m podium will be present, with Great Britain's Josh Kerr joining gold medallist Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse as racers at all four meets.

However, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, whose showdown with Kerr was one of the most eagerly anticipated moments in Paris, is one of the key names missing, while another is McLaughlin-Levrone's closest challenger, Femke Bol.

Olympic men's 1500m medallists Yared Nuguse (bronze), Josh Kerr (silver) and Cole Hocker (gold) have been named as Grand Slam Track racers

Daryll Neita is the sole British woman to be signed as a racer, joining Olympic 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith and world 100m medallist Zharnel Hughes.

Former world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, world indoor silver medallist Neil Gourley and Melissa Courtney-Bryant have been named among the 48 challengers in Kingston.

World 800m champion Mary Moraa will compete, but Britain's Olympic 800m gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson, who is recovering from injury, and Tokyo Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu is not involved.

Olympic men's 100m gold medallist Noah Lyles is another notable absentee.

'I can save track - not track and field'

The biggest call Johnson has made is excluding half the sport of athletics.

European indoor long jump champion Jazmin Sawyers said Grand Slam Track cannot achieve the change it seeks without including field events.

The Briton told the Telegraph: "He talks about revolutionising the sport, but in its current iteration that's not happening. The sport is athletics - that's the sport that's given him the life that he has."

The USA's two-time reigning Olympic discus champion Valarie Allman said field athletes "want to compete the most" and hopes new competitions "recognise that track and field is a total package".

In response to the criticism which followed the decision, Johnson said: "I love this sport. But I have had time to reconcile the fact that if we continue to just do the same thing, tell people that 'you should love this' or 'you should understand this' - that doesn't work.

"Grand Slam Track is track - that is what we're doing. I am going to save what I think I can save.

"I think I can save track. I don't think I can save track and field.

"Putting the two together works at the Olympics and World Championships, but I'm not sure it works when you're trying to create a professional sport outside of those global competitions."

Field eventers including pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis have been excluded from Grand Slam Track

Others are also looking to adapt to a shifting landscape, not least World Athletics, which last year announced a new three-day competition.

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship, which includes field events, will be held for the first time in 2026, with champions earning $150,000 (£118,000) at the end-of-season competition.

The sport's governing body, which last summer introduced prize money at the Olympics, is exploring new ways to appeal to a mass audience between Olympic Games, including a World Treadmill Championships.

Diamond League CEO Petr Stastny welcomed the competition but voiced his concern that schedule clashes could hurt competitors and organisers.

Johnson said: "We have had numerous conversations with World Athletics and we have listened to a lot of what they have said over the years.

"They want to grow the sport in the US, for athletes to be paid more, to encourage more innovation in the sport.

"When we sat down to build Grand Slam Track we listened to that. We built Grand Slam Track to do all those things."