After all the talk, all of the hype and all of the expectation, a vision finally became reality as the inaugural Grand Slam Track meeting got under way in Jamaica on Friday night (April 4).
While the sight of a sparse crowd at Kingston’s National Stadium perhaps didn’t quite strike the initial note that organiser Michael Johnson would have been hoping for, those on the track certainly kept their end of the bargain as a number of events provided precisely the kind of head-to-head contests and drama that the former Olympic 200m and 400m champion had in mind when devising this concept.
With competitors taking on two disciplines across the three-day schedule in their respective event groups – Short Sprints (100m/200m), Long Sprints (200m/400m), Short Hurdles (100m or 110m hurdles/100m), Long Hurdles (400m hurdles/400m), Short Distance (800m/1500m) and Long Distance (3000m/5000m) – and $100,000 going to the winner of each event group, the stakes were unusually high for such an early stage of the season and there was a different feel to proceedings.
“The athletes are amazing, but they need a platform,” Johnson told AW earlier this year and, at 5:42pm local time, the first of them stepped on to the one he had provided.
After gale force winds had ripped through the arena earlier in the day, it was instead a stiff breeze that greeted the women’s 200m field as they appeared on the National Stadium track which has recently been relaid and is resplendent in the colours of the Jamaican flag.
Gabby Thomas claimed a little slice of history by becoming the first ever Grand Slam Track race winner and there was perhaps little surprise that the Olympic champion came out on top. The American won convincingly in 22.62 (-0.2) to earn the 12 points for first place (points are awarded on a descending scale from 12 to 1 by position), but the tactical dynamic of the athletes doubling up was immediately at play, too.
Eyebrows were raised as Mariliedy Paulino – better known for her 400m prowess given her status as world and Olympic champion – came second as she clocked 22.93 to push former world champion Dina Asher-Smith (22.96) into third. Salwa Eid Naser, Olympic 400m silver medallist, was fourth in 22.99.
With scores combined across the two events to decide the winner, Saturday’s 400m contest is already a mouthwatering one.
“The stakes of these competitions are really high,” said Thomas. “Normally, at these early season meets we’re just practicing and feeling it out. Here at the Grand Slam the stakes are high, the prize pot is huge and the level of competition is also really high. That’s not something that we’re really used to in our sport and I think it’s really good.”
(Bee Trofort-Wilson for Grand Slam Track)
The men’s Long Sprints group started with the 400m, and Chris Bailey showed that none of the form which took him to the world indoor title had deserted him, the American producing a searing run to win in a world-leading 44.34.
Olympic silver medallist Matt Hudson-Smith got out strongly and was in pole position coming off the final bend but it was at that point when Bailey moved past and held strong to hit the tape first. Hudson-Smith clocked 44.65, with American Vernon Norwood 44.70.
Ejgayehu Taye (Howard Lao for Grand Slam Track)
The first Long Distance race provided the perfect recipe of an excellent contest combined with a quick time. Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye produced 8:28.42, the fastest time ever run by a woman for the distance in Jamaica, to win a brilliant last-lap battle with Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, who clocked a PB of 8:28.75. Taye’s compatriot Gebresilma was third in 8:38.15.
Nikki Hiltz (Matt Pendleton for Grand Slam Track)
The 800m/1500m battles are one of the most intriguing aspects to the Grand Slam concept and it was those better known for their metric mile exploits who came to the fore in the women’s 800m.
After a quick start from Heather Maclean, her fellow American and national mile record-holder Nikki Hiltz hit the front just after the bell, which was reached in 58.34.
She clung to that lead as the pace quickened and the field behind her jostled, just managing to keep herself in front as she clinched a superb win in a world-leading PB of 1:58.23 thanks to closing 200m of 30 seconds.
Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, recent winner of 1500m silver at the World Indoor Championships, was right on her shoulder in 1:58.29, while Olympic 1500m silver medallist Jess Hull also clocked a PB in 1:58.58 as reigning 800m champion Mary Moraa faded to eighth place in 2:00.97.
There was no such drama in the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, which both saw comfortable victories for the pre-race favourites. With the flat 400m to come on Sunday, Alison Dos Santos and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone expended a minimum amount of energy yet still managed to look a class apart.
In the men’s race, two-time Olympic bronze medallist Dos Santos eased away to win in 47.61 as Jamaican Roshawn Clarke generated plenty of noise from the crowd as he took second in 48.20, with American Caleb Dean running 48.58.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Matt Pendleton for Grand Slam Track)
In the women’s race, as is so often the case, McLaughlin-Levrone was running a race with herself as she finished a long way clear in 52.76. Her fellow American Dalilah Muhammad, whom she succeeded as world record-holder and who recently announced she will be retiring at the end of this season, moved through the field for second in 54.59. Jamaican Rushell Clayton tried her best to stick with the Olympic champion in the earlier stages and finished third in 55.02.
(Howard Lao for Grand Slam Track)
With the 3000m also to be contested on Sunday, there was a reluctance to pick up the pace during a men’s 5000m race that only truly – and suddenly – burst into life in the closing 400m.
American Cooper Teare had been in front early on before the lead changed a few times as different contenders edged ahead, only to decide not to take the pace on. All the while, Grant Fisher – the man who broke the 3000m and 5000m indoor world records during the winter – was content to sit and watch from around third or fourth place.
He was caught on his heels, however, by the unexpected explosion of pace that came from Hagos Gebrhiwet, the Olympic bronze medallist causing chaos as he surged to the front at the bell.
American Dylan Jacobs did his best to stick with him, though, as did Teare, while Fisher set about trying to make up lost ground. As Gebrhiwet began to fade, suddenly it was the US trio who came to the fore with Fisher looking stronger and stronger.
A 51-second last lap helped him to edge the contest in 14:39.14 from Teare (14:39.31) and Jacobs (14:39.56), with Gebrhiwet coming fourth (14:40.20).
Kenny Bednarek edges the 100m (Howard Lao for Grand Slam Track)
At the other end of the distance scale, the closing event of the evening, the men’s 100m, brought the biggest noise from the home crowd but American Kenny Bednarek denied them the victory they all wanted to see.
With the two-time Olympic 200m silver medallist having stumbled slightly in the early phase of the race, it was Jamaican Oblique Seville who looked to be heading for full points after his hero’s reception.
However, Bednarek recovered and finished strongly to hit the line in 10.07 (-1.3), with Seville clocking 10.08. British record-holder Zharnel Hughes was given the verdict for third in 10.13, the same time attributed to Jamaican Ackeem Blake.
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