Grand Slam Track, the startup athletics series led by Olympic legend Michael Johnson, has announced the conclusion of its inaugural season, one meet ahead of schedule.
The competition’s final event, set to take place in Los Angeles at the end of June, was cancelled with only two weeks notice.
“The decision is not taken lightly,” said Johnson in a statement, “but one rooted in a belief that we have successfully achieved the objectives we set out to in this pilot season, and the importance of looking towards 2026 and beyond.
“The global economic landscape has shifted dramatically in the past year, and this business decision has been made to ensure our long-term stability as the world’s premier track league.”
The series had seemed to get a lot of things right, signing an impressive roster of athletes, delivering top-level competition wrapped in slick broadcast coverage and vibrant online activity.
Attendance at its opening event in Kingston, Jamaica was disappointing, but there was a sense that things were improving as the series reached the United States. Citius Mag declared that the Philadelphia event ‘felt comfortably full’, even though the upper tiers of the huge Franklin Field stadium were not opened. Viewing figures were said to be “strong” for a first-year sports property.
Johnson’s tone had been realistic from the beginning. “Startups aren’t profitable in year one,” he had said several months ago. “If anybody comes to you with a startup, saying: ‘Hey, we’re going to be profitable in year one,’ run away as fast as you can.”
But it’s hard to interpret an early termination of its opening season as a positive signal. And cycling fans are well used to hearing of events taking an unexpected break, promising to return next year, but failing to materialise.
DerbyWheel CEO James Pope had said he was following Grand Slam Track with interest. The parallels were obvious: both initiatives sought to provide a sustainable ‘regular season’ in sports otherwise focused entirely on four-year Olympic cycles. Success for Grand Slam Track would surely have been helpful in DerbyWheel’s pursuit of investment.
Instead, Grand Slam Track’s apparent failure to reach its first-year finish line, even having got so much clearly right, may make that task even harder.
It is now well over 400 days since the last news article was posted on DerbyWheel’s website. Its calendar continues to state that regular racing will begin ‘from the 1st half of 2025’ – but no event is currently scheduled, and the first half of 2025 ends in just over two weeks.
Of course this will be far from DerbyWheel’s first missed launch target; but previous misses have been openly acknowledged, and dates moved. It feels somewhat ominous that this date remains on the website, even beyond the point of it being a practical possibility.