Kingston, Jamaica — Within the coronary heart of sprinting historical past, the place legends like Usain Bolt as soon as electrified packed stadiums, a unique vitality crammed Kingston’s Nationwide Stadium on Friday night. The inaugural meet of the Grand Slam Track series—a challenge heralded as a revolutionary step for world athletics—was launched not with the roar of a crowd, however reasonably below a hushed, sparse sky.
Although the stands have been dishearteningly empty, the motion on the observe was something however subdued.
Michael Johnson’s imaginative and prescient meets a muted welcome
4-time Olympic gold medalist and observe icon Michael Johnson, the architect behind the sequence, absolutely envisioned a thunderous opening. Billed as a “game-changer” and infused with multi-million-dollar backing, the sequence promised high-octane competitors and world-class performances. On the efficiency entrance, it delivered. On crowd vitality? Not fairly.
However, the athletes—undaunted and unfazed—ignited the lanes with world-leading occasions and razor-thin finishes.
Star sprinters set the tone
The night’s first main spotlight got here courtesy of Gabby Thomas, the Paris Olympic 200m gold medalist and American dash queen. With fluid grace and unrelenting energy, Thomas stormed to a commanding 22.62-second victory within the girls’s 200m.
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Behind her, Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic (22.93) and Dina Asher-Smith of Nice Britain (22.96) accomplished a star-studded podium. It was an announcement run—managed, medical, and charismatic.
“You by no means need to peak too quickly, however this was about execution, and I nailed it,” Thomas stated post-race.
Bailey and Dos Santos dominate the lengthy sprints
Within the males’s 400m, Christopher Bailey of the US delivered a standout efficiency, clocking 44.34 seconds to edge out Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith (44.65) and compatriot Vernon Norwood (44.70).
Moments later, Brazil’s Allison dos Santos dazzled within the 400m hurdles with a easy 47.61-second end, holding off Jamaica’s rising star Roshawn Clarke (48.20) and American Caleb Dean (48.58).
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone glides to victory
Then got here the second of the evening. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world file holder and American icon, made profitable look easy within the girls’s 400m hurdles. She cruised to a 52.76-second end, defeating Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad (54.59) and Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton (55.02).
“That’s simply Sydney being Sydney,” one commentator famous. “She redefines dominance each time she steps on the observe.”
The ladies’s 3000m noticed a compelling duel between Ethiopia and Kenya, with Elgayehu Taye clinching victory in 8:28.42 minutes, barely forward of Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich (8:28.75). Fellow Ethiopian Tsige Gebreselama adopted in third with 8:38.15.
Nikki Hiltz holds on
Within the girls’s 800m, American Nikki Hiltz emerged victorious in a tightly contested end at 1:58.23, narrowly beating Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji (1:58.29) and Australia’s Jessica Hull (1:58.58). Impressively, the highest six runners broke the two-minute barrier, together with Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin, who posted a season-best 1:59.78 in sixth place.
Fisher leads American sweep in males’s 5000m
The boys’s 5000m belonged wholly to the US, as Grant Fisher (14:39.14), Cooper Teare (14:39.31), and Dylan Jacobs (14:39.56) swept the rostrum in a tactical, reasonably than blazing, contest.
The boys’s 100m capped the evening with a photograph end. Identified extra for his 200m dominance, Kenny Bednarek shocked the sector by edging out Jamaica’s Indirect Seville by a mere hundredth of a second, profitable in 10.07 seconds. Nice Britain’s Zharnel Hughes adopted in 10.13 seconds.
It was an exciting finish to an evening that promised extra to return.
“I simply needed to check my gears,” Bednarek quipped. “I believe they’re working.”
What’s subsequent
Saturday guarantees much more high-octane races because the Grand Slam Monitor Sequence continues with eight marquee occasions. From the lads’s 110m hurdles to the ladies’s 400m sprint, the day is stacked with elite line-ups.
Additionally, a few of Jamaica’s future sprinting stars from the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Ladies’ Championships will showcase their expertise within the 100m, 200m, and 400m occasions beginning at 4:00 PM.
Saturday’s Schedule Highlights:
5:42 PM – Males’s 110m Hurdles: Omar McLeod, Daniel Roberts, Sasha Zhoya among the many contenders
5:56 PM – Males’s 200m Sprint: Fred Kerley, Bednarek, Indirect Seville headline the sector
6:08 PM – Girls’s 1500m: Jessica Hull, Nikki Hiltz, Diribe Welteji to battle
6:25 PM – Girls’s 100m Hurdles: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Tia Jones, Danielle Williams, Ackera Nugent prepared for showdown
6:38 PM – Girls’s 100m Sprint: Melissa Jefferson, Daryll Neita, and Alana Reid gentle up the straight
6:52 PM – Males’s 1500m: Josh Kerr, Cole Hocker, Marco Arop and extra compete
7:07 PM – Males’s 200m Sprint: Terrence Jones, Fred Kerley, Zharnel Hughes sq. off
7:21 PM – Girls’s 400m Sprint: Gabby Thomas, Dina Asher-Smith, and Marileidy Paulino return to the observe
Whereas the environment lacked the grandeur many hoped for, the Grand Slam Monitor sequence laid a powerful basis with highly effective performances and world-class competitors. With a number of tweaks and extra promotional firepower, this formidable challenge may but stay as much as its “game-changer” billing.
As a result of ultimately, the athletes confirmed up—and that’s the place the true magic lies.
