Grand Slam Track™, the global home of professional track competition, launched by four-time Olympic Champion Michael Johnson, today officially announced the first group of Challengers signed to compete in the Kingston Slam, April 4–6th, at National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica. 

The Challengers announced today are all standout Jamaican competitors, who are now set to electrify the home crowd in Kingston:

- Hansle Parchment, Men's Short Hurdles, Tokyo Olympic Champion - 110m hurdles

- Danielle Williams, Women's Short Hurdles, Budapest World Champion - 100m hurdles

- Malik James-King, Men's Long Hurdles, Jamaican National Champion - 400m hurdles

- Alana Reid, Women's Short Sprints, World U20 Champion - 100m & 4x100m relay

- Orlando Bennett, Men's Short Hurdles, Olympic Finalist - 110m hurdles

- Shiann Salmon, Women's Long Hurdles, Olympic Finalist - 400m hurdles

Tickets to see these Challengers compete are on sale NOW at grandslamtrack.com/events

These Challengers join the roster of 48 Racers already announced to compete, including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson, Masai Russell, Alexis Holmes, Quincy Hall, Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, Grant Fisher, Josh Kerr, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Oblique Seville, Ackera Nugent, Roshawn Clarke, Rushell Clayton, Nickisha Price, Nikki Hiltz, Cyrena Samba-Mayela, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Alison Dos Santos, Ronald Kwemoi, Muzala Samukonga, Sasha Zhoya, Marileidy Paulino, Jess Hull, Marco Arop, Devon Allen, & many more.

More Challenger announcements will be made in due course as we head towards the Kingston Slam. All four Grand Slam Track events will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock, including exclusive coverage of Slam Fridays, with the CW Network providing broadcast coverage of Slam Saturdays and Sundays. International broadcast information will be announced soon.

For more information, and the full roster of Racers, please visit grandslamtrack.com, and follow @GrandSlamTrack on all social media platforms.

Grand Slam Track Announces Six Jamaican Stars as First Group of Challengers Signed for Kingston Slam, April 4–6 at National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica.

BURBANK, CA (FEBRUARY 3, 2025) – The CW Network, NBC Sports, and Grand Slam Track™, the global home of professional track competition launched in 2024 by four-time Olympic Champion Michael Johnson, today announced a groundbreaking three-way partnership that confirms The CW Network will be the exclusive U.S. broadcast home of Grand Slam Track™, and that Peacock will be the exclusive streaming home of Grand Slam Track™, presenting all four Slams of the inaugural 2025 season live. A highlights special featuring the best moments from the inaugural Grand Slam Track™ season will also air on NBC on May 10.

“We’re delighted to finally be able to announce this incredibly exciting broadcast and streaming partnership to all our fans in the United States,” said Grand Slam Track™ Commissioner Michael Johnson. “I’d like to personally thank both our great friends and partners at The CW and NBC Sports for putting together this agreement, which will help us continue to revolutionize the sport of track. We were determined to make sure that Grand Slam Track™ would be seen by millions of fans across the country, and we’re delighted to be delivering on that promise. We can’t wait to get started with our Slams in April; you won’t want to miss this.”

Grand Slam Track™ features a roster of 48 Racers, comprising of the top track athletes from around the world, competing against 48 Challengers in four Slams in Kingston, Jamaica; Miami; Philadelphia; and Los Angeles. Grand Slam Track™ has already announced the 48 Racers signed to compete in all four Slams including world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, triple Olympic Gold medalist Gabby Thomas, Olympic 400m Champion Quincy Hall, plus international superstars like Josh Kerr and Marileidy Paulino, with another 48 Challengers still to be announced for each Slam.

Each event is composed of three days of competition from Friday-Sunday. Peacock will stream all action live, and will provide exclusive coverage of the first day of competition of every event, including Grand Slam Track™’s debut, when the innovative league kicks off its inaugural season on Friday, April 4 (6:00-9:00pm ET) from Kingston, Jamaica. The CW will exclusively broadcast all Saturday and Sunday events live across the United States, starting on Saturday, April 5 (6:00-9:00pm ET) and Sunday, April 6 (3:00-6:00pm ET), with those competitions also streaming live on Peacock. The addition of Grand Slam Track™ to The CW’s ever-growing library of sports properties, including ACC football and basketball, Pac-12 football, WWE NXT, and NASCAR Xfinity Series racing, is sure to excite track fans across the country. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Olympic Champion Michael Johnson and the inaugural season of Grand Slam Track™ to the CW Sports family,” said Brad Schwartz, President, The CW Network. “Michael and his team have assembled an impressive roster of the top athletes from around the world for intense head-to-head competitions. We look forward to introducing Grand Slam Track™ to our broadcast audience and believe it is an exciting addition to our growing roster of sports on The CW.”

Grand Slam Track joins a robust array of track & field programming on the platforms of NBC Sports, the exclusive home of the Olympics and primary destination for track & field fans in the United States. Through long-standing partnerships with World Athletics and USA Track & Field, NBC Sports showcases the sport’s biggest global and domestic events, such as the World Athletics Championships, USATF Indoor and Outdoor Championships, Prefontaine Classic, and many more.

“Michael Johnson is a legend in the sport, and we’re excited to partner with him and the Grand Slam Track™ team to deliver his vision to devoted track fans and new audiences on Peacock,” said Joe Gesue, Senior Vice President, NBC Olympics & Paralympics Programming. “Following the incredible success of the Paris Olympics, which featured one of the all-time memorable track meets, we’re looking forward to this new opportunity to showcase these phenomenal athletes and engage viewers with their dynamic performances and stories.”

Grand Slam Track™ has assembled a world-class roster of talent from across the globe that will electrify fans in the upcoming season. 48 Racers will compete against 48 Challengers in one of the following event groups: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400H/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m). All competitors’ final placement score will be determined by their combined finishing order between the two races. The winner of each Slam event group will take home $100,000 in prize money, and the 8th place competitor will earn $10,000.

The focus of Grand Slam Track™ is on head-to-head competition, not winning times. There will be no rabbits or pacing lights. Each Slam is as equally important as any other, will have its own prize purse, and will be independently scored, with points and previous finishes not carrying over to the following Slams. All Racers will compete twice over the three-day event, and all Slam events will meet World Athletics regulations, with achieved marks being eligible for rankings and standards.

Range Sports, led by David Sternberg, was instrumental in advising Commissioner Johnson and Steve Gera, President of Grand Slam Track™, in landing the three-way partnership.

Below is the 2025 broadcast schedule for Grand Slam Track™ on The CW & Peacock. Tickets for all four Slams are currently on sale. For further information, please follow @GrandSlamTrack on all social media platforms and visit grandslamtrack.com. 

Grand Slam Track™ – Kingston, Jamaica

Friday, April 4 (6:00-9:00pm ET, 3:00-6:00pm PT) - Exclusively on Peacock

Saturday, April 5 (6:00-9:00pm ET, 3:00-6:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Sunday, April 6 (3:00-6:00pm ET, 12:00-3:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Friday, May 2 (5:00-8:00pm ET, 2:00-5:00pm PT) - Exclusively on Peacock

Saturday, May 3 (5:00-8:00pm ET, 2:00-5:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Sunday, May 4 (3:00-6:00pm ET, 12:00-3:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Friday, May 30 (4:00-7:00pm ET, 1:00-4:00pm PT) - Exclusively on Peacock

Saturday, May 31 (4:00-7:00pm ET, 1:00-4:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Sunday, June 1 (3:00-6:00pm ET, 12:00-3:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Friday, June 27 (7:00-10:00pm ET, 4:00-7:00pm PT) - Exclusively on Peacock

Saturday, June 28 (7:00-10:00pm ET, 4:00-7:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Sunday, June 29 (3:00-6:00pm ET, 12:00-3:00pm PT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

Full Roster of Grand Slam Track™ Signed Racers

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson, Masai Russell, Alexis Holmes, Quincy Hall, Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, Grant Fisher, Josh Kerr, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Ackera Nugent, Roshawn Clarke, Nikki Hiltz, Cyréna Samba-Mayela, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Alison Dos Santos, Ronald Kwemoi, Muzala Samukonga, Hagos Gebrhiwet, Clément Ducos, Oblique Seville, Sasha Zhoya, Marileidy Paulino, Jess Hull, Daniel Roberts, Shamier Little, Marco Arop, Devon Allen, Jasmine Jones, Jereem Richards, Luis Grijalva, Rushell Clayton, Nickisha Pryce, Elise Cranny, Nozomi Tanaka, Salwa Eid Naser, Daryll Neita, Mary Moraa, Agnes Ngetich, Caleb Dean, Diribe Welteji, Freddie Crittenden, Brittany Brown, Zharnel Hughes, & Tsige Gebreselama.

The CW is America’s fifth major broadcast network and reaches 100% of US television households. The CW delivers 15 hours of primetime entertainment programming per week in addition to nearly 400 hours of sports per year as the broadcast home to ACC football and basketball games, Pac-12 football games, “Inside the NFL,” WWE NXT and NASCAR Xfinity Series. The fully ad-supported CW App, with more than 100 million downloads to date, is available for free to consumers on all major platforms and is home to the latest episodes and seasons of The CW’s primetime programming and a library of entertaining film and television content for on-demand viewing. The CW is 75%-owned by Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST), a leading diversified media company and largest CW affiliate group. For more information about The CW, please visit www.cwtv.com.

NBC Sports connects sports fans to the moments that matter most with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. As the sports division of NBCUniversal, NBC Sports produces, programs, and promotes premier content across numerous linear and digital platforms, including NBC and Peacock. NBC Sports possesses an unparalleled collection of media rights agreements, partnering and presenting many of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the NFL, NBA, WNBA, Big Ten Conference, Notre Dame, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, USGA, PGA of America, The R&A, Churchill Downs, Premier League, and many more. It is renowned for making big events bigger and has produced some of the most-watched sporting events in U.S. media history, including Olympic Games, Super Bowls, and Sunday Night Football, primetime television’s No. 1 show for 13 consecutive years.

Peacock is NBCUniversal’s streaming service providing audiences a singular, unmatched content destination. As one of the most complete streaming products on the market, Peacock offers exclusive breakout original series; more than 8,000 hours of live sports and entertainment programming; hit movies right after theaters from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation and Illumination; next-day access to all new shows from NBC and Bravo; fan-favorite library content; daily live news; as well as live channels from brands including Hallmark and WWE. Built on the foundation of NBCUniversal with a spirit that is all Peacock, the platform delivers for its audiences with innovative technology, creative partnerships, and entertainment that is truly entertaining.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Michael Johnson is a Hall of Fame track and field star, universally recognized as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships across his career and held world and Olympic records in both the 200m and 400m races. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Johnson became the first and only male athlete to win the Gold medal in both the 200m and 400m at the same Olympics. Since retiring from active competition, Johnson has become a serial entrepreneur and investor, as well as highly sought after performance mindset speaker and an award-winning television commentator. Johnson has been a pundit for the BBC’s coverage of every Olympics Games since Athens 2004, and remains a key voice on, and advocate for the sport. Johnson was inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004.

Beth.Feldman@cwtv.com				Rob.Moynihan@cwtv.com 

ben.sosenko@grandslamtrack.com			callum.squires@grandslamtrack.com	

The CW to Serve as Broadcast Home on Saturday and Sunday of Each Slam
Peacock to Live Stream All Events, Including Exclusive Friday Coverage of Each Slam’s Opening Day

GRAND SLAM TRACK™, Founded by Four-Time Olympic Champion Michael Johnson, Announces Media Rights Partnerships With the CW Network and NBC Sports to Present its Inaugural Season

He rolled up to the club with a breezy smile on his face, excited to kick it with his NFL friends on a cool Colorado night in the mid-1990s. Alas, it was a false start: As Michael Johnson arrived at the VIP entrance, he encountered chilly, blank stares. Part of a crew that included his best friend from college, Denver Broncos cornerback Ray Crockett, and Crockett’s future Hall of Fame teammates Shannon Sharpe and Terrell Davis, Johnson was eyeballed by the doormen as though he were the group’s designated two-way-pager carrier, and it was unclear whether he’d be allowed entry.

Johnson’s friends on the Broncos were incredulous.

“Y’all don’t know who this is?” they asked as Tupac’s “All Bout U” blasted over the sound system.

“How can you not f----- know who this is?”

Johnson, by the fall of 1995, was one of track’s brightest stars, having just made history by winning gold medals in both the 200 and 400 meters at the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. In Europe, he was highly recognizable. In his own country, however, the former Baylor runner remained largely anonymous. That would change the following summer when, at the Atlanta Olympics, Johnson famously donned gold shoes and pulled off a legendary double that stamped him as one of the most transcendent champions in the history of the sport. Yet even as he enjoyed the subsequent spoils of success—and completed one of the most accomplished athletic careers of the 20th Century—Johnson continued to channel the frustration he felt while being sized up skeptically at those Denver clubs.

It was all so maddening. How could track, an Olympic centerpiece every four years that had enjoyed a wave of popularity in the ‘80s, fail to penetrate the American sporting public’s psyche the rest of the time? Why were there so few opportunities for the fastest men and women in the world to captivate audiences by competing head-to-head? Where were the annual, commercially viable showcases that featured the best of the best—track’s version of the Masters, Wimbledon or the Kentucky Derby?

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(01) Michael's singlet from Baylor University. Born in Dallas, he attended Baylor in nearby Waco, where he won multiple NCAA Championships in the 200m and 400m / (02) Michael won his first gold medal in Barcelona,1992 as a member of the US 400m relay team that broke the world record / (03) The most talked about spikes in history. Michael made good on the implied prediction, delivering an unprecedented sweep of the 200m and 400m in Atlanta, 1996.

After Johnson retired in 2000, things got worse. Much worse. “The sport, in terms of popularity, just dropped off a cliff,” Johnson recalls. “Every time I thought it couldn’t get worse, it hit a new bottom. Every four years, it’s extraordinarily relevant. But in between, it’s nothing. When Usain Bolt came on the scene (in 2008), there was this false belief that the sport was doing great. I said, ‘Once he’s gone, those people watching the sport are gonna bolt with Bolt.’”

He wasn’t wrong, and the predictable dip only hardened his resolve to try to effect change. For more than three decades Johnson—as a performer, an agent, a BBC broadcaster and an entrepreneur whose Michael Johnson Performance, which established a state-of-the-art training center in Dallas, counted track federations and athletes as clients—pondered the malaise and envisioned a better reality, for elite racers and for fans. The existing model, he concluded, couldn’t produce the type of cream-of-the-crop competitions that could elevate the sport’s profile. 

So Johnson decided to do the heavy lifting himself. In February Johnson, 56, announced that he had teamed with Winners Alliance—a group best known for being the for-profit arm of the Professional Tennis Players Association—to “build a professional truly fan-focused league that will unlock commercial value for the best track athletes in the world.” Two months later, Johnson revealed that he’d already secured $30 million in funding from investors and strategic partners.

In June, Johnson detailed his specific plans for the venture, known as Grand Slam Track, set for a 2025 launch. It will unveil four annual meets within the April-September window patterned after tennis’ Grand Slam tournaments and golf’s majors, three-day gatherings that feature marquee collections of contracted performers facing off in two events apiece. The current plans are to stage the meets in Los Angeles, an additional location in the United States, and two international sites.

Long frustrated by the bureaucracy and outdated structure that have kept the top track athletes from reaping the benefits of professional competition in the way that their peers in so many other sports do, Johnson is determined to keep things simple. Grand Slam Track will be short on stunts, long on substance.

“This sport doesn’t need gimmicks,” Johnson says. “It needs a better presentation. This primarily has one objective, and that is to create a truly professional, commercially viable league for fans and the best athletes. Athletes are the product. But how we structure this league, and how we package the athletes, has to be based on entertaining the fans—like every professional sport, except for track and field (as it currently stands). If you watch a track meet today, the purpose of that track meet, if you really dig down… it’s for the athletes. We have events for ourselves.

“I’ve been involved in different startups, and we’re building this like a startup. You have to understand: Is there actually an audience for this, and what do they want? And the first thing you do when you deliver and release that first version is get customer feedback. The things that they say, ‘I don’t want,’ or ‘I didn’t use that,’ you scrap. It’s all about the user. And so, it’s all about the fan.”

In that vein, there will be no field events.

“We will have one thing going on at one time,” Johnson says. “Every athlete in every event deserves to have undivided attention on that.”

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(01) Sydney's futuristic case housed Michael's last Gold, but sits empty. He gave it back unprompted after qualifying members of his 4x400 team tested positive / (02) Atlanta's medal case was more straightforward with the laser-cut, centennial emblem on the lid, and velvet lined interior / (03) Michael won his first World Championship in Tokyo, 1991 in the 200m, besting Frankie Friedrichs by .33 seconds / (04) Produced in 1996, this Michael Johnson figurine was part of the "Timeless Legends" collection which also included Muhammad Ali and Walter Payton / (05) Michael smashed the 200m world-record in these spikes during the 1996 USATF Olympic Trials in Atlanta, 1996 / (06) Designed by Robert Jurgens the 2000 torch was inspired by the boomerang, the Sydney Opera House, and the Pacific Ocean / (07) 1992 OLYMPIC TORCH. Michael has a large collection of Olympic torches, which include Games he participated in. Barcelona's torch was designed by André Ricard Sala / (08)  1996 OLYMPIC TORCH. Atlanta's centennial torch was designed by Peter Mastrogiannis to look like a Greek column and famously used by Muhammad Ali to light the Olympic Flame / (09) Michael wore the US team's white, red and blue singlet for his first international win in 1991, a gold medal in the 200m at the Tokyo World Championships / (10) The 1997 edition "Timeless Legends" Starting Lineup captured Michael's iconic look at the Atlanta Games, down to the gold shoes / (11) In Atlanta 1996, Michael became the first man to complete a 200m and 400m sweep, running 19.32 in the 200m to smash the World Record / (12) Michael wore these striped gold spikes, for his 2001 farewell tour, which included a gold in the 4x400m relay at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane.

Johnson strives to highlight the essence of the sport he loves, something he believes has been lost amid unnecessary noise.  Because of that, Johnson believes, media who cover the events tend to focus on times and records, even those of the arcane variety.

“The whole sport has overcomplicated things,” Johnson says. “Because the avid fan is so disenchanted with the sport—because there’s no competition to speak of, very often—it’s, ‘well, give us something,’ and we can get into all these facts and figures. There’s no room for the casual fan to come in, because ‘they’re not even talking about anything that I know.’”

By contrast, this is Johnson’s three-word summation of the Grand Slam series: Only the fastest.

And don’t even get Johnson started on the labeling of those participating in Grand Slam events as “athletes.”

Says Johnson: “A word that is almost never used in track anymore, that we will always use, is ‘racing.’ We have racers; we don’t have athletes. And we race. That’s what we do. When you get on the track, you’re racing the other racers. You’re not ‘executing your strategy,’ or all the other stuff we say in the sport now. It’s almost like we deliberately try to avoid saying that they’re racing. You’re missing the whole point of this, which is: Who f----- won?”

Not surprisingly, Johnson will encourage Grand Slam Track’s race winners to celebrate—something he believes does not come naturally, because of the sport’s amateur roots and an accompanying “ideology around track that everybody should be treated the same, everybody is deserving, everybody’s equal—even though they’re not.” 

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(1) Michael wore this singlet for his last gold medal—the 400m in Sydney, 2000 / (2) Michael wore the JSC spike from 1997-2000, a run which included 400m win at the Athens World Championships and a world-record-breaking triumph at Seville / (3) 1995 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Before Atlanta, Michael swept the 200 and 400 at Gothenburg. He won a third Gold in the 4400 making it his greatest international haul.

During the height of his career Johnson experienced a stark contrast when he was part of an entrepreneurial group, headed by Ross Perot Jr., that owned the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks from 1996-2000. Each year, at the league’s competition committee meetings, Johnson recalls, “the committee (would be) looking at, ‘How do we improve the game? What’s happening? How do we make sure that we don’t lose fan base? Who’s our target market? What demographics?’ Demographics don’t even matter anymore; now it’s down to habits and behaviors. In track we never even studied demographics: ‘Who do we want to be targeting and how does our product fit that?’”

Grand Slam Track, by design, will be all about giving fans the product they desire. Under the current model, the best racers derive most of their income from contracts with shoe companies heavily tied to performances at the Olympics and World Championships, which inadvertently disincentivizes focusing on other events. Johnson’s league plans to counter this by signing the sport’s biggest stars, including U.S. collegiate champions whose eligibility has expired, to professional contracts. As contracted runners, they’ll be motivated to treat the Grand Slam meets as priorities. Also, Grand Slam Track prize money will be significantly higher than existing events: $100,000 for a first-place finish, and a minimum of $10,000 per competitor in each race.

The format will foster rivalries and develop storylines. Market research has shown that there’s a potentially large audience made up of viewers who enjoy watching track at the Olympics and Worlds and are hungry for more events featuring the top racers. Johnson insists his series can coexist with the Diamond League meets, much as golf’s major championships and tennis’ Grand Slams do with other tournaments

Nothing is guaranteed, but Johnson believes his venture can burst out of the blocks and pick up the pace. He views the NFL, NBA, Formula 1 and UFC as models for what he believes Grand Slam Track can become. He fantasized about such a scenario while running his small agency, which began as a means of helping Jeremy Wariner, another Baylor star, who captured gold in the 400 meters in the 2004 Athens games. That was also the first Olympics at which Johnson served as a BBC commentator, an ongoing role that has kept him connected to the sport and made him a highly recognizable figure in the U.K.

“I get (recognized) in London because I’m on TV all the time,” Johnson says. Then he laughs, marveling at how things have changed since the ‘90s, when he continually got the side-eye from those doormen at Denver clubs. “Back then,” he recalls, “an American football player would not be known in London. But now, as things have become more global and superstars are superstars everywhere, they would be. (In the ‘90s)  a track athlete at least would have been known in Europe; now, for the most part, they’re not recognized anywhere.

“Most sports have become even more global since that time and have expanded their presence. Track has gone the opposite direction.”

Johnson, a racer to his core, is now leading the charge toward what he envisions as a bountiful future for the sport. Track has had its share of dark moments, but the Grand Slam founder is convinced that legions of potential customers remain drawn to the sport’s essence.

His vision: Get the fastest humans on earth together in one place, line them up and let them race.

“I’ve been thinking about this and experiencing this since 1990,” he says. “That’s 35 years of seeing these things from all my different vantage points—as an athlete, an agent, a television commentator, and in my role as an entrepreneur. Being an investor myself, being the owner of an NBA team, I’ve just seen the stark difference between track and these other ventures. So yeah, this has been bugging me for a long time, and there are so many things I’ve seen that have left me shaking my head. And we can create a better model for the sport and its fans.”

Now, once again, Johnson is in front of the pack, and determined to stay there—no matter how far away the finish line might be.

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