LAUSANNE, September 17, 2024 - While Sebastian Coe has announced his intention to run for the crown of IOC president, Michael Johnson continues his work to make the launch of the Grand Slam Track effective and credible, a sort of very rich circuit that includes four events in total between April and September 2025. Officially it is not an attack on the international federation, World Athletics, but a torpedo against the Diamond League, which already has too many events and risks being strangled by this GST initiative, if it is successful. But there is more cooking. Let's see. 

GOLDEN LEAGUE – More than 40 years ago there was the Golden Four, which included four high-level international meetings: Berlin, Brussels, Oslo and Zurich. They were the richest and most attended meetings, because they had the money to hire athletes. Primo Nebiolo, then president of the IAAF (now World Athletics), saw this circuit as a political danger, because it could destabilize the life of the federation a little, and at the same time thought that the formula of a new circuit, called Grand Prix, could be useful for athletics in the world. So he bought the rights to the Golden Four and gave birth to a new creature. 

THE CURRENT SITUATION Michael Johnson says they are about to set all the terms of the new circuit that only includes races divided as follows: Short Sprints (100 and 200), Short Hurdles (100-110 hurdles and 100 flats); Long Sprint (200 and 400); Long Hurdles (400 hurdles and 400 flats); Short Distances (800 and 1500); Long Distances (3000 and 5000). The races will take place over two days. There will be 8 at the start of each race: 4 of them, GST Racers will have an annual contract and will be chosen by a commission, while another 4, GST Challengers, will be invited, always at the suggestion of the commission, to each individual event. For these, a participation fee is expected. Everyone can compete for the prize money in each race which includes 100,000 dollars for the first, 50,000 for the second, 30,000 for the third and then scaling down to 10,000 for the eighth. Johnson assures that in the meantime 30 million dollars have already been collected to start off in style. In fact, some important names in US athletics have signed an agreement: Fred Kerley, Benny Bednarek, Yared Naguse, Josh Kerr, Sydney McLaughlin and they also say Noah Lyles. 

THE LOCATIONS Johnson says Los Angeles is confirmed, then there will be another US location and then two other international ones. It won't be easy to find space next summer, which will see the events compressed with the World Championships in Tokyo in September. 

THE FORMAT Johnson says it will be very innovative and televised. There will be twelve races each day, six men's and six women's. Each race will be presented and explored on TV. We're talking about three hours of entertainment. The project is ambitious, but not easy to implement.

IT'S NOT THE ITA It has nothing to do with an attempt at professional athletics born in the 70s of the last century: the ITA, International Track Association, which attracted some champions at the end of their careers, lived not so well for 4 years, then died because it couldn't find sponsors and didn't sell television rights. In this case Johnson intends to enter with a new formula to guarantee more earnings for the athletes, but which risks erasing many other specialties at the same time. It's a choice of entertainment, a little divisive. 

SERENA WILLIAMS Serena Williams' husband, Alex Ohanian, will inaugurate the first Athlos NYC on September 28, a women's meeting that will offer $60,000 to the first finisher in each race. A record. 

CROUSER DEFENDS HIMSELF Given that the new organizers want to leave throwing aside, Ryan Crouser has decided to launch his own League, for big men who want to defend their sporting existence, without ending up like Brian Oldfield, who in the Seventies was forced to run against American sprinters to put on a show and earn a few dollars. 

ULTIMATE Finally, the World Athletics Ultimate Championships are already scheduled for September 11-13, 2026 in Budapest. The top 8-16 best athletes in the world will participate. Each winner will earn $150,000. It will be another rich catwalk after the Diamond League final, its twin, but more generous. 

CONSIDERATIONS The first months of 2025 will certainly be hot, because the organizers of the Diamond League will logically have to try to defend their products, and necessarily someone will come out defeated from the duels. New ideas were needed after years of stagnation, but now it seems like we are facing an avalanche of available money. A dream? A nightmare? Were we all too blind and conservative in the past? Maybe.