Grand Slam Track Kingston 2025: Your Complete Distance Preview, Matchups & Storylines to Watch

By Chris Chavez

This weekend, the world of track and field enters a new and exciting chapter.

The first-ever Grand Slam Track meet kicks off in Kingston, Jamaica (April 4–6), welcoming a glittering roster of Olympic and world medalists—and marking a seismic shift in how the sport could be seen, celebrated and sold.

After months of announcing a slew of high-profile athlete signings, the headliners are among the greatest athletes of all time: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the Olympic and world record-breaking force in the 400m hurdles; Gabby Thomas and Cole Hocker, fresh off their golden runs in Paris. The full Olympic podium from the Paris Games in the men’s 1500m, men’s 400m and the women’s 100m hurdles. Alongside them all will be deep fields, stacked with Challengers hungry for a shot—not just at glory, but at one of the richest paydays in track.

The prize? $100,000 per event category champion. A total prize purse of $12.6 million across the series. It’s the biggest single bet ever on changing the way professional track works.

Dreamt up by four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson, Grand Slam Track is a new league designed to inject consistency, competition, and visibility into elite track and field—a sport that too often fades between Olympic cycles. (Watch below or listen to our most recent interview with Johnson here.)

A quick refresher on how the format of the league works (longer version here from last June):

• Four meets.

• Ninety-six athletes per meet (48 “Racers” and 48 “Challengers”).

• Six performance categories, each combining two events.

• One overall winner per category, based on cumulative points.

For example, in the “Short Sprints” category, athletes will race both the 100m and 200m. In the “Long Distance,” it’s the 3000m and 5000m. Other categories include “Long Sprints,” “Long Hurdles,” and “Short Distance.”

At each Slam, Racers—the core athletes contracted to the league—face off against up-and-coming Challengers, who are looking to earn their way into other Slams this season, and ultimately the 2026 roster. Every result counts, with points assigned per event and only one athlete per category emerging as that meet’s Slam Champion.

The circuit continues with upcoming meets in Miami (May 2–4), Philadelphia (May 30–June 1), and Los Angeles (June 27–29). 

But first, it all begins in Kingston—a city synonymous with sprinting greatness and the perfect setting for a league looking to make history.

How To Watch

For each of the four Slams, Friday’s action will be streamed on Peacock. Saturday and Sunday’s races will be broadcast on The CW and streamed on Peacock.

Here are the broadcast windows for this weekend. Note: The time featured is Eastern Daylight Time, which is one hour ahead of Kingston, Jamaica (which is currently on Eastern Standard Time, since they do not observe daylight saving time):

• Friday, April 4 (6:00- 9:00 pm EDT) - Streaming on Peacock

• Saturday, April 5 (6:00-9:00 pm EDT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

• Sunday, April 6 (3:00-6:00 pm EDT) - Broadcast on The CW, Streaming on Peacock

We’ve created a handy, shareable schedule that you can bookmark or screenshot on Instagram here. A live results link will be found here.

CITIUS MAG LIVE FROM KINGSTON

CITIUS MAG’s crew – Chris Chavez, Eric Jenkins, Aisha Praught-Leer and Anderson Emerole – will bring you four shows from Kingston. 

We’ll have a preview show on Thursday, where we’ll discuss the new league format, the upcoming race weekend and share some predictions. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday – similar to those who have tuned in for our daily World Championship and Olympics coverage – we’ll aim to bring your our post-race analysis by unpacking results, insights from interviews with athletes and more from each day of competition.

To catch it all, be sure to be subscribed to The CITIUS MAG YouTube channel. We’ll also have all our shows available to stream or download on The CITIUS MAG Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you can listen to it on-the-go the next morning or on the run.

Here’s your comprehensive preview of what to watch for this weekend:

Women’s Short Distance

(800m on Friday at 7:21 P.M. | 1500m on Saturday at 7:08 P.M.)

Racers: Jess Hull, Nikki Hiltz, Diribe Welteji, Mary Moraa

Challengers: Sage Hurta-Klecker, Heather MacLean, Natoya Goule-Toppin, Susan Ejore

This event group is heavy on 1500m talent, featuring four of the top six finishers from the Olympic 1500m final, all of whom boast personal bests between 3:50 and 3:56. All of them also happen to be sub-2:00 800m athletes, so they should have no problem taking to the shorter distance. Three of the four Racers in the group are looking to capitalize upon the spark from indoor season where we saw: Jess Hull earn a bronze medal in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships; Nikki Hiltz sweep the U.S. indoor 1500m and 3000m titles (before bypassing on Nanjing to continue training for Kingston); and Diribe Weltej run 3:58.89 for 1500m in Lievin in February before earning a silver medal in the 1500m in China. 

The biggest question among the Racers in Jamaica will be how reigning World champion, Diamond League champion, and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Moraa fares in her first 1500m race of her career. The farthest she’s ever raced is 1000m, in 2:33.43 last August. She told The Nation that 1500m training “has been tricky” but that “my fans should expect great results.” She’ll potentially have the advantage of garnering big points in the 800m before targeting specific athletes and placing in the 1500m to try and win or finish as high as she can in the standings.

Of the Challengers, Susan Ejore-Sanders (1:57.12 PB for 800m/3:56.07 PB for 1500m) and Heather MacLean (1:58.77 PB for 800m and 3:58.31 PB for 1500m)could have high finishes across the weekend since they’re all-around great at both events.

Men’s Short Distance

(1500m on Saturday at 7:50 P.M. | 800m on Sunday at 4:39 P.M.)

Racers: Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, Marco Arop

Challengers: Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Bryce Hoppel, Neil Gourley, Mohamed Attaoui

This might be the most talented squad assembled of all the event groups in Kingston. You have all three men’s 1500m medalists from Paris and two of the three 800m Olympic medalists, plus the American holder in the 800m (who missed one of those medals in Paris by .17s.).

Here’s what those guys were up to this indoor season:

Cole Hocker ran the second-fastest indoor 3000m in history (7:23.14) in an epic battle with Grant Fisher at the Millrose Games and then secured the World Championship 5000m standard with a 12:57.82 run at Boston University two weeks later. He’s clearly strong and aerobically fit.

Josh Kerr was initially slated to race at the Millrose Games and was believed to be in world record shape to challenge for the win but scratched from the race due to illness. He passed on the remainder of the indoor season but has been training well per his YouTube channel.

Yared Nuguse broke the indoor mile world record in 3:46.63 to win his third consecutive Wanamaker Mile title at the Millrose Games… only for the record to be broken by Jakob Ingebrigtsen less than a week later. He attempted to take it back but fell short with a 3:47.22 showing at Boston University on March 2nd.

Day 1 will feature the 1500m, which will be the best opportunity for Hocker, Kerr, and Nuguse to build a lead on the 800m specialists. They haven’t quite shown their hands at how much 800m-specific work they’ve done.

On the flip side, 800m Olympic silver medalist and reigning World champion Marco Arop has been vocal about his belief that with proper training and a commitment to the 1500m, he could break 3:30. Kerr laughed him off. 

Arop’s dedication to the longer distances is sprinkled across his Strava with some longer distance work in recent months. Similarly, Bryce Hoppel (currently a 3:42.62 guy for 1500m) posted about his own 1500m work on Instagram.

And then there’s 800m Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who people tend to forget held the road mile world record with a 3:54.56 last year. If you simply looked at his World Athletics profile, you may not be blown away by his 3:38.1 run on March 15th. But consider the context: he ran it on a dirt track, at altitude in Kenya, and closed hard and beat Josphat Sang by six seconds. Who the heck is Sang? Last year’s Kenyan National Championships runner-up, who beat the likes of Timothy Cheruiyot in that meet. Wanyonyi is a massive threat.

It’s clear that the 800m guys are working hard to take it to the 1500m guys. On Day 2, they have the chance to drag them into deep waters with a clearer objective from the previous day’s points standings.

Women’s Long Distance

(3000m on Friday at 7:04 P.M. | 5000m on Sunday at 4:04 P.M.)

Racers: Nozomi Tanaka, Tsige Gebreselama, Agnes Ngetich, Elise Cranny

Challengers: Hellen Ekalale, Whittni Morgan, Melissa Courtney-Bryant, Ejgayehu Taye

Temperatures for this weekend in Kingston call for mostly sunny skies, a high of 88 degrees and low of 74 degrees on Friday evening and then a high of 89 degrees and low of 73 degrees. Perfect weather for some unrabbited 3000m and 5000m races! It could maybe be a shock to the body for the likes of Elise Cranny and Whittni Morgan, who are coming off indoor season. Cranny held her own with a 30:36.56 for 10,000m this past weekend at The Ten but it was maybe maybe 30 degrees cooler than what she’ll face in Kingston.

The likes of Agnes Ngetich and Hellen Ekalale look to catch some attention on the track after great road success. Ngetich is returning to the track for the first time since taking sixth in the 10,000m at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Since then, she’s run 14:13 for 5K en route to breaking the world record for 10K on the roads in 28:46 and then clocked the second-fastest half marathon in history with a 63:04 last October. If I recall correctly, she was in Eugene last summer for the Kenyan 10,000m Olympic Trials race at the Prefontaine Classic but withdrew on the day of. 

Ekalale is a bit more of an unknown to American track fans because she’s spent much of her time training and racing in Japan and has only represented Kenya internationally at the 2018 World Junior Championships. She impressed many in January with a 29:30 to win the Valencia 10K to become the fourth-fastest woman ever.

Don’t overlook Ejgayehu Taye, who ran 14:18.92 at the Prefontaine Classic last year, took sixth in the 5000m final at the Paris Olympics and finished fourth in the Diamond League final. That’s the most recent and highest finish at a global championship of the group.

Men’s Long Distance

(5000m on Friday at 7:56 P.M. | 3000m on Sunday at 4:49 P.M.)

Racers: Grant Fisher, Ronald Kwemoi, Hagos Gebrhiwet

Challengers: Cooper Teare, Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Dylan Jacobs, Telahun Haile Bekele

Grant Fisher put together a dream indoor campaign that only strengthens his case as the favorite in this category. He shattered the indoor 3000m (7:22.91) and 5000m (12:44.09) world records in February. Both were outright personal bests so he was in the form of his life and then took some down time before refining his wheels for Kingston. As he proved at the U.S. Olympic Trials and the Paris Olympics without pacers or wavelights, he’s also among the best in the world when things get tactical.

Fisher will have his first race outside the Olympics against world leader in the 5000m Hagos Gebrhiwet, and is looking for his first career win (0-for-2) against Ronald Kwemoi, who just narrowly beat him for the silver in the 5000m in Paris Olympics by .09s. Kwemoi has not raced in 2025. Gebriwhet had an off day and only ran 7:44.48 for seventh place in his lone indoor race in Lievin back in February.

The Challengers ride in with a bit more momentum. 

– Cooper Teare ran a 3000m personal best of 7:30.62 at the Millrose Games and then 12:57.97 to secure the World Championship 5000m standard.

– Thierry Ndikumwenayo thrived in over hill and dale and took third at the European Cross Country Championships last December, before running a 27:50 10K PB on the roads in Ibiza.

– Dylan Jacobs is blossoming in his first season under coach Dathan Ritzenhein with the On Athletics Club. His indoor season consisted of a 7:30.45 personal best for 3000m at the Millrose Games, a runner-up finish at the U.S. Indoor Championships in the same event, and then a fifth place finish at the World Indoor Championships for his first time representing the U.S. at a global championship.

– Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who many think of as a 1500m guy since that has been his speciality event for more than a decade, recorded a 13:10.71 personal best for 5000m just two months after turning 34.

– No one had a more impressive performance at last weekend’s The Ten than Telahun Haile Bekele, who ran an estimated 10,090 meters and still managed to run 26:52.79 to secure the World Championship qualifying standard for the 10,000m. He’s run 7:25.48 for 3000m and 12:42.70 for 5000m, to boot, so with a fair start, he’ll be a factor.

Throw all fast times out the window with the beating sun and we could see some tactical affairs.

What event are you looking forward to the most? Got a bold prediction that you want to get off your chest? Drop us an email with your thoughts on the inaugural edition of Grand Slam Track. 

Be sure to follow along with all of CITIUS MAG’s coverage across Instagram, X, Bluesky, Threads. We’ll have our pre-race show on Thursday and “After The Final Lap” shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that you can watch on our YouTube. We’ll also have those available for you to listen in podcast form to take on-the-go via the CITIUS MAG Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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