"Don’t even think about debating me"- Michael Johnson heaps praise on his team as they unveil the venues for the inaugural edition of Grand Slam Track

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Nov 16, 2024 06:33 GMT

Michael Johnson was all praise for his team for their work in promoting the inaugural Grand Slam Track League. The inaugural edition of this track league will be held between early April and late June next year.

Johnson took to his X (formerly Twitter) on November 15 to express his reaction. He reshared a promotional post from the league's X handle that unveiled some of the participants as well as the dates and venues for the inaugural Grand Slam League.

Praising his social media team, Johnson wrote:

"My social media team is best in the business! Don’t even think about debating me on this."

The first meet of the Grand Slam Track League will be held at Kingston in Jamaica from April 4 to April 6, with the three locations being Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Explaining the decision behind picking Jamaica as the venue, Johnson wrote:

"Why am I taking the first ever @GrandSlamTrack slam to Kingston? Jamaica deserves to be recognized for its contributions to the sport."

The tickets for the inaugural meet are expected to go on sale by December 6 this year.

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All about Michael Johnson led Grand Slam Track's Inaugural season

All about Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track League 2025 [Image for Representational Purposes] [Image Source: Getty]

Michael Johnson aimed to launch the Grand Slam Track League as early as the 1990s when he was a dominant force in the discipline of track and field as an athlete. His aim was crystal clear: create an event that would popularize track and field further and not keep its fame restricted to just the Olympics.

In an interview with TMZ Sports in September 2024, Michael Johnson explained his motive behind launching the Grand Slam Track League.

"I built Grand Slam Track in the mold of the four Tennis Grand Slams. That's where you know you've got the best of the best athletes, high stakes, Jeopardy, the stories, people anticipating, and we saw that you know you see that every four times a year for golf majors, you see that four times a year for the tennis Majors, Grand Slams and we saw that for the Olympics.”

Athletes like Masai Russell, Fred Kerley, Marileidy Paulino, Kenny Bednarek, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Quincy Hall, Melissa Jefferson, Josh Kerr, Cole Hocker, etc. have already signed up for this mega track league, with prize money of more than $12 million at stake.

The winner will get a minimum of $100000, far greater than the prize won by the winner of the Diamond League Finals.

The first season of the Michael Johnson- led Grand Slam Track League will commence from April 4 at Kingston in Jamaica and wrap up by June 29 at the Los Angeles in the USA.