The night before Saturday, Swedish time, the first starting shot will be fired at Jamaica's national stadium in Kingston when the women's 200 meters kick off the new running circus with a prize pot of over 130 million kronor.
57-year-old American Michael Johnson, a legend on the 200 and 400 meters, is the initiator of the competition, which is an attempt to rescue track and field's status in the sports world.
Grand Slam Track is track and field. It's what we do. I'm going to save what I believe I can save, says the multiple Olympic Games and World Championship gold medalist in an interview with BBC from last year.
Jumping and throwing events, including Armand Duplantis' pole vault, are not included in the competition program in the four heats during the spring and summer.
In total, 96 runners, 48 women and 48 men, mostly from North America or the Caribbean, are in the starting field, which includes distances from 100 to 5,000 meters, as well as 100, 110, and 400 hurdles.
Not only "Mondo" is missing. None of the reigning Olympic champions on 100 meters from the Olympic Games in Paris, Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia, and Noah Lyles from the USA, are participating in the premiere competition. The Olympic silver medalists on the same distance, Kishane Thompson from Jamaica, and Sha'Carri Richardson from the USA, are also not participating.
April 4-6: Kingston, Jamaica.
May 2-4: Miami, USA.
May 30-June 1: Philadelphia, USA.
June 27-29: Los Angeles, USA.
The competitions can be streamed on Max in Sweden.
