Eight Big Takeaways From Grand Slam Track: Philadelphia

By David Melly

Three of the four meets in the inaugural Grand Slam Track season are now in the books, and Philadelphia had some of the series’ most exciting moments yet. With a streamlined two-day program and a Franklin Field full of fans, the meet felt lively, fast-paced, and at times, pleasantly unpredictable.

Full results from Philly can be found here, and you can check out the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel for all our athlete interviews, live preview and recap shows, and the fan-favorite “Off The Rails” featuring Aisha Praught-Leer and Eric Jenkins.

As the sun sets over the Schuylkill River, here are our biggest takeaways from GST round 3:

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek are ON FIRE.

The men’s and women’s Short Sprints 100ms were the last events of the weekend, but they were also the most memorable as Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek each won their third GST titles in blazing fashion. On a day when fast sprint times weren’t expected given the relatively cool, breezy temperatures in the mid-60s Fahrenheit, Jefferson-Wooden and Bednarek both showed they’re in such prime form they don’t need to wait for ideal weather. One day after Jefferson-Wooden surprised Gabby Thomas by handing her her first 200m loss of the season (21.99 to 22.10), Jefferson-Wooden was even more dominant in the 100m, winning by a massive 0.3-second margin and clocking a wind-legal 10.73, the fastest time in the world this year and the T-10th fastest of all time.

Bednarek, who like MJW is coached by U.S. sprints guru Dennis Mitchell, is now a perfect six-for-six in GST races, picking up two more wins and his third Slam title in the Short Sprints with a 9.86 victory in the 100m, setting a new lifetime best and equalling the days-old world lead set by University of South Florida’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu at the NCAA East Regional. Bednarek and Jefferson-Wooden’s runs are certainly helping to underscore the League’s “only the fastest” branding.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone tries something new—and still gets a solid paycheck.

11.21 may be only the 66th fastest women’s 100m of 2025 and seventh fastest of the weekend, but Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone still received a huge ovation and a lot of curious eyeballs for her first 100-meter race in six years. The 400m hurdles specialist moved down to the Short Hurdles category and clocked a solid pair of performances outside her comfort zone, running 12.70 for fifth in the 100m hurdles alongside her second-place finish behind Slam winner Ackera Nugent in the flat 100m. Her 12 points still placed her second overall in the category, bringing her GST winnings up to $250,000 on the year.

An improved Marco Arop is very dangerous for the Short Distance category.

When it comes to the 800m, Marco Arop is no underdog as the reigning World champion and Olympic silver medalist in the event. He’s won all three Short Distance 800ms on the GST circuit so far, most recently in a season’s best 1:43.38 in Philadelphia. But he’s struggled in the longer half of the competition—so far. After finishing sixth in the 1500m in Kingston and seventh in Miami, Arop improved to fourth in the 1500m in a new PB of 3:35.38, both leading the race early and making a big move in the final lap. It’s clear that the Canadian middle-distance runner is getting more comfortable at this new discipline, and he also improved his point total to 17, which was enough to defeat Miami champion Josh Kerr in the Slam standings and win his first GST title of the series.

Alison dos Santos loses his streak by a tiny fraction of a second.

On Saturday, Alison dos Santos was once again in the driver’s seat on the way to his third Slam title in the men’s Long Hurdles category, but Sunday was a different story. After finishing second behind dos Santos in the 400m hurdles, Trevor Bassitt clocked a 45.47 victory in the flat 400m ahead of Chris Robinson and dos Santos. But it was Robinson’s second-place finish, 0.01 seconds ahead of dos Santos, that helped deliver Bassitt the overall victory as he ended up with 20 points to dos Santos’s 18. Had Robinson finished farther back, Bassitt would’ve won the tiebreaker by a small margin, but had dos Santos run only 0.02 seconds faster, they would have exactly tied in both points total and time.

Jessica Hull keeps things honest in the 1500m.

Clearly, Olympic silver medalist Jessica Hull had no interest in a kicker’s race in the first Short Distance competition of the weekend. She took control in the 1500m just after 400 meters and kept the pedal down all the way to the finish. Hull was just outkicked in the homestretch by eventual Slam champion Diribe Welteji, but came out with a 3:58.53 season’s best behind Welteji’s 3:58.04. It was the fastest winning time of the series by six seconds, and the top five finishers all bettered the previous fastest GST mark from Kingston. Her strategy also knocked fast finishers like Nikki Hiltz and Georgia Hunter Bell out of contention, which helped Hull come away with a second-place finish overall in the Slam.

Jasmine Jones makes history in the long hurdles.

Sure, there’s not exactly a long history of Grand Slam Track just yet, but Jasmine Jones still made waves in her long-awaited GST debut with an unprecedented performance. In a tightly-contested Long Hurdles category, Jones became the first Slam champion to win the overall title without winning an individual event. She finished second in both the 400m and 400m hurdles, behind Lina Nielsen and Anna Cockrell, respectively, but her 16 points was the highest total in the category, so she’s going home with the top prize. It was also simply nice to see Jones finally in action, as the Racer was forced to delay her outdoor season opener due to injury.

Grant Fisher scratches the 3000m to Nico Young’s benefit.

Two-time men’s Long Distance Slam champion Grant Fisher was nowhere to be seen on the starting line, as he’d experienced discomfort in warmups that was significant enough to cause him to withdraw from the competition. (Editor’s note: one can’t help but wonder if the 50% reduction in prize money helped make that decision an easier one.) We’ll never know how he would’ve fared or how his presence might have altered the dynamic of the race, but regardless, Nico Young sure looked like a winner with a strong finishing kick over Ky Robinson and Andrew Coscoran, clocking a 8:01.03 victory in his GST debut with a 53.74 final 400m and 25.61 final 200m. Young didn’t just close hard; he also won the tactics game as well as he stayed patiently in the pack until the final 150 meters when he made one last, decisive move.

The fans were the MVPs of this one.

Even without official reports of ticket sales in Franklin Field, it was readily apparent that the crowds were large and boisterous for the third GST of the series. The broadcast was helped greatly by audible roars every time a big name was introduced, and after each race the winners and fan favorites were mobbed by requests for autographs and selfies. Franklin Field is a huge venue and the upper decks of the stadium were not in use, but it was still impressive nevertheless that the place felt comfortably full. As popular interest and support for the meet format continues to grow, this is a promising sign for the future of the league.

The next Slam—and last of 2025—is set for June 28-29 in Drake Stadium in Los Angeles. You can get your tickets here – hope to see you there!

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