Grand Slam Track cancels L.A. event, ending inaugural season

The inaugural season of Grand Slam Track has come to an abrupt end.

The fourth and final stop of the league was scheduled for Los Angeles on June 28 at UCLA's Drake Stadium but was cancelled on Thursday.

Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson said "the decision to conclude the inaugural Grand Slam Track season is not taken lightly, but one rooted in a belief that we have successfully achieved the objectives we set out to in this pilot season."

He cited a shift in the global economic landscape as the reason for cancelling the LA event, which will be part of the league's 2026 calendar.

Johnson raised around $30 million to launch Grand Slam Track this spring, promising a new way of doing track — involving a group of runners under contract racing twice over a weekend and focusing more on where they finished than actual times.

The inaugural season began in Kingston, Jamaica, in early April before meets in Miramar, Fla., and Philadelphia last month. Philadelphia's meet had its schedule condensed from three days, like the previous two Slams, to two days.

Among the top athletes he signed were Olympic champions Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas, though two other American track stars, Sha'Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, did not race in the league.

The league said Kenny Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden are the league's "Racers of the Year," having won three straight slam championships each.

Canada's Marco Arop was the lone Canadian athlete to commit to the full season and competed in the three previous meets. The 26-year-old from Edmonton won the short distance Slam title in Philadelphia.

The first three events doled out about $9.45 million US in prize money, with another $3 million expected to be paid in L.A. Bonuses were expected to go to season-long winners of the categories.