Athletes Still Waiting for Grand Slam Track Money Despite Johnson's Claim They've Been Paid
Athletes and their representatives say money owed to them by Grand Slam Track has still not arrived — this despite founder Michael Johnson publicly insisting that everyone has been paid.
Johnson, the four-time Olympic gold medallist turned entrepreneur, launched Grand Slam Track in 2025 with a bold promise: lucrative prize money and appearance salaries that would reward track athletes at a level the sport had rarely seen. The league's debut season quickly ran into trouble. Attendance was poor at the opening leg in Kingston, Jamaica. The final event in Los Angeles was cancelled. In December, organisers voluntarily filed for bankruptcy in the United States. (Reuters)
The financial hole is deep. Roughly $12–13 million was owed to athletes at one stage. The total reported debt to creditors, athletes included, stands at about $11 million (£8.1 million), currently held by a third party. Several high-profile names are owed more than £100,000 each, among them British former world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and Olympic 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith. (BBC Sport)
Johnson broke his silence earlier this month in an interview with The Telegraph, in which he stated that athletes had been paid. He said he had "got the athletes paid" after what he called a "catastrophic capital issue" caused by investors pulling out. According to The Telegraph's reporting, Johnson laid out more than £8.2 million — described as the largest sum ever paid to track athletes for competing. (The Independent; Sport Resolutions)
But a company acting on behalf of GST athletes says it has received no payments and has not been contacted about when money might be due. Johnson's own representatives have conceded that the funds have not yet reached the athletes, and said he did not intentionally set out to deceive anyone by claiming they had. (BBC Sport)
The saga has also drawn scrutiny over Johnson's personal finances. A March 2026 legal filing by GST's creditors accused him of "secretly" paying himself $500,000 (£375,000) days before the season collapsed — an allegation a GST representative called "unfounded and false." Johnson said he was hurt by the accusation and that the payment was reimbursement for charges he had put on his own credit card, covering athlete flights and hotel rooms when the company's cash flow dried up. (BBC Sport)
Johnson has been a BBC pundit and commentator since 2001 but has not worked for the broadcaster since the 2024 Olympics, having stepped away to focus on Grand Slam Track. The BBC is not planning to use him in its 2026 coverage. (BBC Sport)
For the athletes caught in this, the gap between a public statement and money in the bank is the only thing that matters. Kerr and Hudson-Smith are not fringe hopefuls; they are among the sport's biggest draws. That they and others remain unpaid months after competing — while the league that promised to elevate them sits in bankruptcy proceedings — is a sobering reminder that ambition and capital do not always cross the finish line together.
Johnson has said he will "refuse to give up on the mission of Grand Slam Track." Whether that mission survives the debts, the legal filings, and the trust now broken between a league and its athletes is another question entirely. (BBC Sport)
