Large Matchups and larger dollars: Michael Johnson Pledges Grand Slam Track will give “Fantasy al Vita” | Athletics

MIchael Johnson is one of the few real legends of athletics. Now, however, he is chasing the Holy Grail. Every four years, athletics is the largest sport of the Olympics. In the middle, for most occasional fans, he falls from a cliff. But Johnson, four times gold medal through the Games of Barcelona, ​​Atlanta and Sydney, believes he can change all this with a new professional trace of Big Money, Grand Slam, who is launched on Friday in Kingston, Jamaica.

“Grand Slam Track is the equivalent of UFC and Formula 1,” he says to The Guardian. “The research tells us that people looked at trace during the Olympics because of the stars and stories, therefore this is the recipe. And in the absolute heart is the competition to head the best athletes. Because that’s what people want to see.”

There will be four “slams” from April to June, with many of the greatest names of the sport that chases $ 12.5 million (£ 9.5 million) in cash prizes. But there is also an intriguing turning point: at every three -day meeting athletes will not only compete in their main specialty, but against the best of the world in a second event.

“We got the podium from the 1500 m Olympic in competition,” says Johnson. “Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse and Cole Hocker. And in Kingston we also got the 800m Olympic gold medal Emmanuel Wanyonyi and the 800m world champion Marco Arop.

“So athletes not only win a race and are track samples of the Grand Slam, they must win enough points in two races: one of which is their dominant race and one of which is not.”

The prizes must not be smelled to either of them: each winner this weekend will leave with $ 100,000 (£ 75,800), with the second that took $ 50,000 and even the last place that collected $ 10,000.

It is attractive to imagine that the Grand Slam is around in the era of Seb Coe, Steve Cram and Steve Ovett – and the excitement if they had regulated regularly. “For years, Track fans have put Matchup together, saying that this will be my fantasy race,” says Johnson. “We gave birth to the imagination.”

Last year, the 57-year-old was mentioned saying that he thought he could save the track, that-for to say it slightly. But insist that there was more context in this statement than reported.

“The track doesn’t need to save,” he says. “Every four years at the Olympics, it is fantastic. Every four years it is the most popular sport on the planet. Then he falls, but also in the middle, over 155 million people every year look at least two meetings on the track, and 325 million people watch them.

Johnson defeats more than the names of 48 stars who have enrolled for all four meetings, including the holder of the world record of 400m Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone and the 200m Gabby Thomas Olympic champion. Another 48 athletes will also be parachute as “challengers” for one or more of the Slam, including Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, which runs over 200 and 400 meters this weekend.

All these names are fantastic, I say it to Johnson, but even the athletes don’t have to do more to push rivalries and tell us what they really think? Perhaps surprisingly, Johnson is not entirely in agreement.

“In this sport we asked for too much athletes,” he says. “We asked them to do it practically on their own. Because there has not been an exclusive professional league for them, no matter what anyone else says. The media do it too.” You have to show more personalities. You must be more similar to Bolt. You have to do it. You have to do it. “

“But creating a professional alloy and a platform for them, athletes must only present themselves, run, speak from the heart and be authentically themselves. They must not try to produce a sort of personality, because that person is not real.”

There is clearly a lot of good will towards Johnson. But not everyone is believers. The skeptics indicate that the two largest stars of the Netflix Sprint series, the 100m Olympic champion, Noah Lyles, and the world champion of 100m female, Sha’carri Richardson, did not register – which would certainly have contributed to attracting more eye bulbs in the crucial United States market. There are also no field events. And filling the stadiums in Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles during three following days of competition will also be a heavy challenge.

However, that’s what Johnson clearly appreciates. “We are doing what every athlete and fan, together with Sebastian Coe, the head of the world AthleticsHe said that sport needs, “he says.” We have to grow sport. We need athletes to make more money. We need better transmission offers. We want a head -to -head competition. So I’m not going to focus the few people who said it doesn’t for me. “

So, how is success in the first year? “It is a question of growing the brand, growing our fan base, growing our participation in our live events and a growing involvement,” says Johnson. “But we have already done two of the most difficult parts of all this: get 48 of the best in the world signed for the League and having sent a distribution in 189 countries.”

This includes the United Kingdom, where each round of the Grand Slam track will be shown live on TNT Sports e Discovery+With the Kingston event starting at 11.30 pm on Friday.

And Johnson also has a message to those who fear that $ 30 million investments in Grand Slam Track could run out before being able to change the sport he loves for the better. “We are in this for the long range,” he says. “Startups are not profitable in the first year. You know that if someone comes to you with a startup, saying:” Hey, we will be profitable in the first year “, run away as quickly as possible. But we will continue to grow.”

In his book, killing the dragon, Johnson talks about learning to love pressure. So how do you feel on the eve of the big event? “There is pressure, but there is excitement right next to it,” he insists, smiling. “We are ready to finally start this.”