Philadelphia named fourth Grand Slam Track location; joins Kingston, Los Angeles and Miami
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has been named the fourth and final host city for the 2025 season of the Gram Slam Track competition.
The announcement was made on Thursday by four-time US Olympic Champion Michael Johnson, who is also the founder and commissioner of the competition.
Earlier this week, Kingston was announced as one of the host cities, joining Miami and Los Angeles.
“Philly has a reputation for bringing intensity to every event, and that’s exactly what we’re looking for with Grand Slam Track,” said Johnson. “There’s a unique energy in this city, and we’re excited to see how the athletes respond to that. Philadelphia’s sports culture is something else, and it’s going to elevate the competition.”
A news release making the announcement, described Philadelphia as having a “strong sports identity and devoted fan base” which made it an ideal location for Grand Slam Track.
The Philadelphia Slam will be held at Franklin Field, at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia on May 30, 31, and June 1.
The press release informed that each year, 48 athletes will be named as Grand Slam Track Racers. Fpr the 2025 competition the roster of racers already announced include Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Melissa Jefferson, Masai Russell, Quincy Hall, Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, Grant Fisher, Josh Kerr, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Ackera Nugent, Roshawn Clarke, Nikki Hiltz, Cyrena Samba-Mayela, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Alison Dos Santos, Ronald Kwemoi, Muzala Samukonga, Clement Ducos, Marileidy Paulino, Jess Hull, Daniel Roberts, Shamier Little, Marco Arop, Devon Allen, Jasmine Jones, Jereem Richards, Luis Grijalva, Rushell Clayton, Agnes Ngetich, & Tsigie Gebreselama.
“These racers are selected by the Grand Slam Track Racing Committee based on a combination of factors to include the fastest and best racers in each race group, with a focus on fierce rivalries and thrilling competitive racing,” Grand Slam Track said.
It added that racers and challengers will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories, and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400H/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m).
“All competitors’ final placement score will be determined by their combined finishing order between the two races. In the event of a tie across the two events, it will be the athlete who had the quickest combined time across the two races who will be deemed the winner,” Grand Slam Track explained.
“The winner of each Slam group will take home US$100,000 in prize money, and the eighth place competitor will earn US$10,000. Grand Slam Track will have a total of US$12.6m of prize money that will be awarded across the slams each year in addition to the base compensation and appearance fees paid to racers,” it added.
It added that Grand Slam Track has secured more than US$30 million in financial commitments from investors and strategic partners for the launch of the league.
For further information, follow @GrandSlamTrack on all social media platforms, and visit grandslamtrack.com.
