Latest news with #GrandSlamTrack
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
With Deadline Approaching, Grand Slam Track Still Owes Facility Rental Fee For Miami Meet
MIRAMAR, FL - MAY 2: Michael Johnson is pictured on the field during Grand Slam Track at Ansin ... More Sports Complex on May 2, 2025 in Miramar, Florida. (Photo by Michael Pimentel/) Another deadline is fast approaching for Grand Slam Track, and this time it's in the form of an unpaid facility rental fee at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida. The startup track and field league currently owes the City of Miramar $77,896 for its facility rental from its Miami Slam, which took place from May 2-4 at the complex, I have learned from a public records request, and the first of three payments from the rental agreement is due on July 18. Originally, the binding terms of the event-host agreement signed on April 10, 2025, by the City of Miramar and Grand Slam Track indicated that one-half payment of the fee was due 30 days before the event on April 2, while the second-half was to be finalized 30 days after the event on June 2. However, the bill is still unpaid after 72 days. The City of Miramar rewrote a new payment plan that indicates Grand Slam Track now owes $30,000 on July 18, another $30,000 on August 18 and the third and final payment of $17,896 on September 18. It marks a stark turn of events for Grand Slam Track, which you could argue had its most successful event in Miramar, hosting a nearly sold-out crowd over three days at the Ansin Sports Complex, filling the 5,000-seat stadium to the brim as an American record went down in the women's 100 meter hurdles and various other world leads took place on one of the nation's fastest tracks. In this screenshot of the host event agreement between the City of Miramar and Grand Slam Track, the ... More league agreed to pay two installments of its facility rental 30 days before and 30 days after the meet. Current Concerns Plaguing Grand Slam Track The news follows concerns indicating cash flow issues with the track league, which canceled its fourth and final meet in Los Angeles on June 28-29 at Drake Stadium, with sources telling Runner's World the league had issues with its venue deal. Grand Slam Track also made adjustments to its race schedule in Philadelphia, eliminating the 5,000 meter race from the schedule entirely and removing one-half of the prize pool for the distance categories – a total of $525,000 between the men's and women's events. 'The decision to conclude the inaugural Grand Slam Track season is not taken lightly, but one rooted in a belief that we have successfully achieved the objectives we set out to in this pilot season,' Johnson said in a release, announcing his league's departure. He did maintain, however, that the organization was looking forward for a return to the track in 2026. When Grand Slam Track was announced in June 2024, it declared $30 million in 'financial commitments' from strategic partners and touted its partnership with Winner's Alliance, which was the 'lead investor in the first fundraising close for the new venture," an idea that seemed certain to revolutionize the sport and provide long-term growth equity for athletes. But in a search of the SEC's EDGAR database, no filing for Grand Slam Track is available. By season's end, sources told Front Office Sports that the league was considering postponing 'because of a new strategic partnership.' There are also alleged problems with prize money, with a reported $13 million in race winnings not paid following meets in Jamaica, Miami and Philadelphia. High-level staffers – Chief Live Event Officer John Porco, Chief Content Officer Rick Qualliotine and Vice President of Live Event Marketing Lou D'Angeli – have also been let go. Olympic Athletes Are Speaking Up USA's Gabrielle Thomas of team New Balance crosses the finish line in first place, in the women's ... More 200 meter dash long sprint during the Grand Slam Track competition at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica on April 4, 2025. (Photo by Ricardo Makyn / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO MAKYN/AFP via Getty Images) 2024 Paris Olympian and three-time gold medalist Gabby Thomas, who is one of the league's centerpiece stars and earned $100,000 for her win in the women's long sprints category in Jamaica, along with $50,000 and $30,000 payouts for finishing second and third in the shorts sprints categories in Miami and Philadelphia, replied to a Grand Slam Track social media post on Tik Tok in early July, writing 'So dope!! Pls pay me'. In June, Norwegian outlet NRK also asked several of the league's athletes if they had been paid following their outings at the Diamond League's Bislett Games in Oslo. Alison dos Santos and Emmanuel Wanyonyi both confirmed they were still without their prize winnings from earlier meets. Forbes also independently verified at least one other account of a GST athlete not being paid. Grand Slam Track booked the Ansin Sports Complex, which included a 5,000-seat stadium with an FTX Mondo surface, for 14 days (April 22-28 and April 29-May 5), including a 'non-exclusive facility rental fee of $2,400 for seven days' and an 'exclusive facility rental fee of $8,000' for another seven days. Included within the signed agreement was also a promise by Grand Slam Track to pay ticket surcharge fees owed to the City of Miramar based on escalating ticket prices. Grand Slam Track owed the city $1.50 for tickets sold between $1 to $19.99; $2.50 for tickets sold from $20 to $29.99; $3.50 for tickets between $30 to $39.99; and $4.50 for tickets secured at $40 and over. The City of Miramar is owed another $14,928.50, according to public records. The event host agreement, signed by Grand Slam Track and the City of Miramar, outlets ticket ... More surchases owned by the event provider (Grand Slam Track).
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Canada's Marco Arop finishes 5th in 800m at Diamond League Monaco
Canada's Marco Arop, centre, is shown in this file photo competing against Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi (second from right) and Djamel Sedjati of Algeria (at left) in the men's 800m Olympic final in Paris. Arop finished fifth in Friday's Diamond League event while Wanyoni cruised to the win. Sedjati finished third. (File/Getty Images - image credit) Canada's Marco Arop posted a season's-best time to finish fifth in a highly-competitive men's 800 metres race at the Diamond League track and field stop in Monaco on Friday. The field of the Meeting Herculis EBS was comprised of all eight athletes that ran in last summer's final at the Paris Olympic Games. Advertisement Arop, who won silver at Paris 2024, lingered near the back of the pack well into the second lap of Friday's race. The Edmonton native crossed the line in one minute, 42.73 seconds for his best time of 2025. Reigning Olympic champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the event with a world-leading and meet record time of one minute, 41.44 seconds. American Josh Hoey was second (1:42.01) while Paris bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati, of Algeria, was third (1:42.20). Friday marked the first Diamond League appearance of the season for Arop, who was coming off a successful first season of competition in the new Grand Slam Track league. The 26-year-old won all three 800m races in that league, and was crowned the winner of the short distance competition at the Philadelphia stop on June 1. WATCH | Wanyonyi wins 800m in Monaco, Edmonton's Arop places 5th: Advertisement Mitton finishes 3rd Fellow Canadian Sarah Mitton nabbed a third-place finish in the women's shot put in Monaco. The 29-year-old from Brooklyn, N.S., had a top throw of 20m, which slotted her behind the winner, Netherlands' Jessica Schilder (20.39), and second-placed Chase Jackson (20.06), of the U.S. Mitton, the defending world indoor and Diamond League final champ, now has finishes of fifth, fourth, third, and second place through four of five events this season. Those results give her 22 points in her bid to qualify for this year's final, which will see the top six point-getters advance to the Zurich event on Aug. 27. Jackson sits in first place with 30 points, Schilder is in second with 27, with Mitton in third.
New Straits Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
US sprinter Richardson seeks to kickstart season after February injury
EUGENE, United States: Sha'Carri Richardson is looking to ignite her World Championships season at the Eugene Diamond League meeting on Saturday, revealing an injury in February set back her 2025 campaign. "I was injured this year in February, that completely set me back for the season – my start of the season and just how I would normally execute," the 25-year-old US sprint star said at a pre-meet press conference on Friday. Richardson didn't elaborate on the nature of the injury, but she has raced just one 100m this season, posting a lackluster 11.47sec at Tokyo in May. The reigning 100m world champion says the most important thing now is to get races under her belt and stay healthy as she looks toward her title defence in Tokyo. Featured Videos "My biggest thing is having a healthy race (Saturday)," she said. "With a healthy race, me being confident in me, just knowing what I know and being capable of doing, I know that I will produce what it is that I want." Richardson called it a "blessing in disguise" that the World Championships date of September 13-21 stretches the season out. Also, as the reigning title holder, she has a bye in the 100m, but she said she "definitely plans" to bid for a 200m place at the US trials in Eugene later this month. "The only thing that matters is world championships," she said. On Saturday, Richardson will be facing an elite field in the 100m led by Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred, who beat Richardson for Paris Olympics gold last year. Paris bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden – who clocked a world-leading 10.73sec at a Grand Slam Track meeting in June – is also entered. Alfred, a convincing winner in Stockholm three weeks ago in 10.75, said she's hoping to build on that performance – which surprised her at the time. "The day before, I had a mental breakdown because my coach and I had been working on a few things," she confided. "I was a bit hard on myself going into the race, but the time really shocked me just on my execution." — AFP
eNCA
05-07-2025
- Sport
- eNCA
US sprinter Richardson seeks to kickstart season after February injury
EUGENE - Sha'Carri Richardson is looking to ignite her World Championships season at the Eugene Diamond League meeting on Saturday, revealing an injury in February set back her 2025 campaign. "I was injured this year in February, that completely set me back for the season -- my start of the season and just how I would normally execute," the 25-year-old US sprint star said at a pre-meet press conference on Friday. Richardson didn't elaborate on the nature of the injury, but she has raced just one 100m this season, posting a lackluster 11.47sec at Tokyo in May. The reigning 100m world champion says the most important thing now is to get races under her belt and stay healthy as she looks toward her title defence in Tokyo. "My biggest thing is having a healthy race (Saturday)," she said. "With a healthy race, me being confident in me, just knowing what I know and being capable of doing, I know that I will produce what it is that I want." Richardson called it a "blessing in disguise" that the World Championships date of September 13-21 stretches the season out. Also, as the reigning title holder, she has a bye in the 100m, but she said she "definitely plans" to bid for a 200m place at the US trials in Eugene later this month. "The only thing that matters is world championships," she said. On Saturday, Richardson will be facing an elite field in the 100m led by Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred, who beat Richardson for Paris Olympics gold last year. Paris bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden -- who clocked a world-leading 10.73sec at a Grand Slam Track meeting in June -- is also entered. Alfred, a convincing winner in Stockholm three weeks ago in 10.75, said she's hoping to build on that performance -- which surprised her at the time. "The day before, I had a mental breakdown because my coach and I had been working on a few things," she confided. "I was a bit hard on myself going into the race, but the time really shocked me just on my execution."
Al-Ahram Weekly
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Athletics: US sprinter Richardson seeks to kickstart season after February injury - Omni sports
Sha'Carri Richardson is looking to ignite her World Championships season at the Eugene Diamond League meeting on Saturday, revealing an injury in February set back her 2025 campaign. "I was injured this year in February, that completely set me back for the season -- my start of the season and just how I would normally execute," the 25-year-old US sprint star said at a pre-meet press conference on Friday. Richardson didn't elaborate on the nature of the injury, but she has raced just one 100m this season, posting a lackluster 11.47sec at Tokyo in May. The reigning 100m world champion says the most important thing now is to get races under her belt and stay healthy as she looks toward her title defence in Tokyo. "My biggest thing is having a healthy race (Saturday)," she said. "With a healthy race, me being confident in me, just knowing what I know and being capable of doing, I know that I will produce what it is that I want." Richardson called it a "blessing in disguise" that the World Championships date of September 13-21 stretches the season out. Also, as the reigning title holder, she has a bye in the 100m, but she said she "definitely plans" to bid for a 200m place at the US trials in Eugene later this month. "The only thing that matters is world championships," she said. On Saturday, Richardson will be facing an elite field in the 100m led by Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred, who beat Richardson for Paris Olympics gold last year. Paris bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden -- who clocked a world-leading 10.73sec at a Grand Slam Track meeting in June -- is also entered. Alfred, a convincing winner in Stockholm three weeks ago in 10.75, said she's hoping to build on that performance -- which surprised her at the time. "The day before, I had a mental breakdown because my coach and I had been working on a few things," she confided. "I was a bit hard on myself going into the race, but the time really shocked me just on my execution." (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.) Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
