Grand Slam Track Destroying Competitive Distance Running

By Alexander Rennick

April 24, 2025

I never understood why professional and college track runners receive cash prizes for winning events. I’m mentioning this because of the recent Grand Slam track and field event that took place over the past month. It included iconic world record holders such as Grant Fisher among others. This money hungry group of athletes only wanted their pay day rather than a good race. Don’t get me wrong I’d love to earn 100 grand after placing well in a series of races however that cash incentive creates tactically oriented and objectively worse races based on times. I don’t want to see Grant Fisher split a 5:04 mile during a 5k. It’s boring to watch. Although he still did close in a 51 last 400m, myself and other highschool athletes have split 5:04 miles in their 5ks. Not to mention that college athletes are running almost two minutes faster than these professional athletes because they are racing for individual and team glory and most importantly, improvement.

As a spectator and participant of the sport I have seen and ran many events. From my own experience I always enjoyed faster races. The athletes have the opportunity to set their personal bests while spectators get to see how fast they really are.

Grand Slam track itself was created by former Olympic champion Michael Johnson and announced to the public in February 2025. The goal was to attain the top athletes to compete in annual head-to-head competition. On paper that sounds great for the fans and the sport as a whole; however, the event had left primarily longer distance events to become extremely tactical and boring. Tactical racing is when runners intentionally run with more wit than speed. That wit has led to a shockingly slow field of distance times. This creates more lackluster races on the longer events. 

With track athletes not being paid as much as other professional athletes, these events only become ever more important to fill their pockets. The 2025 1500m Olympic champion Cole Hocker has an estimated salary of six to eight hundred thousand dollars according to EssetialySports. He is currently one of the highest paid distance athletes. This is from annual invitationals and sponsorship deals. Considering that there isn’t much above him, the rest of the distance athletes participating in the Grand Slam could make nearly 20% more than their annual income. 

All track athletes should just be paid with a salary based income for participating in these events. I understand that prize money is still important to these athletes which is why it should just be reduced yet not removed entirely. This would create a guaranteed payout for these athletes while still being able to receive a small amount of prize money if they place well. 

There should also be more events like Grand Slam so that these athletes have the chance to earn more money as well as the sponsors of these events. More casual runners would watch these events if they had more opportunities to watch them. The model of NewBalance Nationals is honestly perfect with appealing to the athletes and spectators. After paying for registration fees NewBalance provides each athlete with a free bag, singlet, racing shoes and other merchandise. Although athletes typically don’t pay for their registration at the higher level, NewBalance proved that these athletes don’t run as tactically if they are given a base compensation for just attending. 

Michael Johnson’s heart is in the right place in wanting the best of the best runners to compete against each other however his method of payment is more than unconventional. The absurdly high prize money could be allocated to athletes based on their global recognition in salary based payment .Guaranteed payment would ensure a more competitive scene with faster racing. Money shouldn’t be what's holding back runners from racing for their times and having their names immortalized in history.