While Grand Slam Track (GST) has faced significant challenges that have caused frustrations for many – myself included – I refuse to give up on the mission of Grand Slam Track and the future we are building together.” So declared Michael Johnson last week, a day after his pioneering track league, which promised to revolutionize the sport’s economics, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing liabilities as high as $50 million against minimal assets.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist now confronts a significant challenge in his post-athletic life: not only the substantial debts owed to numerous creditors, including prominent athletes such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas, each awaiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid prize money, but also the clear regulatory barriers being established by the sport’s international governing body. In a recent year-end media call, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe provided a measured yet definitive assessment regarding the possibility of a GST return, as reported by Athletics Weekly.
“We welcome innovation into the sport. We welcome fresh investment,” Coe stated, “but it has to be underpinned by a sustainable, solid financial model executed and delivered on behalf of the athletes.”
The message served as a sharp rebuke of GST’s rocky inaugural season, which commenced with an asserted $30 million in financial backing, experienced disappointing attendance, faced the cancellation of its concluding event, and ultimately concluded with bankruptcy filings indicating a failure to compensate athletes and vendors for millions owed.
Coe then invoked World Athletics’ ultimate authority, signaling a new era of oversight: “We create the calendar. We have to police the calendar. And we have to make sure that when there are fresh events, that they come to the table with the kind of credentials and assets that I talked about. Over the next few years, there are going to be lots of different and new things and I welcome that. But it has to be suffused in a realistic proposition that is fireproof. It’s got to be sustainable.”
Coe’s resolute position signifies more than just a response to one unsuccessful endeavor; it embodies a principled stance for a sport navigating a fragile period of commercial growth. World Athletics is set to unveil a groundbreaking initiative, the Ultimate Championship, scheduled for September 2026 in Budapest, featuring a remarkable prize pool of $10 million. However, Coe has previously expressed criticism of GST for this specific reason.
Sebastian Coe was quite straightforward with Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track
In July, as concerns regarding the insolvency of Grand Slam Track began to emerge, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe indicated that they were keeping a vigilant eye on the developments and would intervene when deemed necessary. “It’s not good. The one thing that World Athletics has always stood strongly behind is the athletes. So yeah, this is not a good situation,” he stated.
Furthermore, Coe added, “It’s a startup, but the athletes do need to be paid. For these things to work, they can’t be vanity projects. They have to be suffused in practicality and deliverability. I just want the events that are going to add luster, that we can find space for, and we will encourage them to at least have the courtesy of spending that kind of time and that kind of effort, both intellectual and resource, in making sure they work.”
A significant number of athletes have yet to receive meaningful compensation from the league. Frustration among them was unmistakably evident. Gabby Thomas expressed her frustration with a touch of humor in the comments section of a Grand Slam Track TikTok, stating, “So dope!! pls pay me…”
For the athletes who remain unpaid and the sport’s administrators affected by this incident, Michael Johnson’s determination to persist may be commendable, yet it is no longer adequate. He must now demonstrate to Coe that his mission is not only ambitious but also financially viable, stable, and firmly aligned with the interests of the athletes he once aimed to empower.