Grand Slam track files for bankruptcy
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Reading Time: 3min | Sat. 13.12.25. | 15:37
The league, which promised to revolutionise the sport with six-figure prize money and guaranteed athlete contracts, made the filing in the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware
Grand Slam Track (GST), the ambitious professional track and field league fronted by American sprint legend Michael Johnson, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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The move follows severe financial difficulties that saw events cancelled and athletes left unpaid.
The league, which promised to revolutionise the sport with six-figure prize money and guaranteed athlete contracts, made the filing in the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
According to court documents, Grand Slam Track has less than $50,000 (approximately Ksh6.7 million) in cash, between 200 and 999 creditors, and liabilities estimated to range between $10 million and $50 million (about Ksh1.35 billion to Ksh6.7 billion).
At the launch, Johnson had confidently touted a $30 million (about Ksh4 billion) bankroll and unveiled a bold vision to keep track and field relevant beyond Olympic years.
The concept centred on four high-profile annual meets, known as Slams, with a guaranteed $12 million (around Ksh1.6 billion) allocated to prize money and athlete salaries.
However, that vision quickly unravelled.
The league’s problems became public in June when it cancelled its Los Angeles meet, the final event of its inaugural season.
In October, reports emerged that several top athletes were still owed six-figure sums, while vendors were asked to accept just 50 per cent of what they were invoiced or risk receiving nothing if the league collapsed. Many vendors rejected the proposal, accelerating the financial crisis.
Among those who flew the Kenyan flag in GST are 800m world champion Mary Moraa, 2024 Olympic 5,000m silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi and 10KM world record holder Agnes Ng'etich, Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Susan Ejore, a 1,500m finalist at the 2024 Paris Games and 2025 10KM Road Race winner Hellen Ekalale.
The Athletic reported that GST owed an estimated $13 million (about Ksh1.7 billion) in appearance fees and prize money to athletes alone, in addition to millions more owed to vendors.
Johnson later publicly acknowledged the failure to meet those obligations.
“It is incredibly difficult to live with the reality that you’ve built something bigger than yourself while simultaneously feeling like you’ve let down the very people you set out to help.
We promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated. Yet, here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them,” he said.
In a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing, Johnson insisted the move was aimed at saving the league rather than ending it.
“I refuse to give up on the mission of Grand Slam Track and the future we are building together,” he said.
Grand Slam Track said the Chapter 11 reorganisation would allow it to stabilise its finances, implement a more efficient operating model and potentially return in future seasons.
The league also spoke of pursuing new initiatives, including expanded participatory events, enhanced media offerings and deeper engagement with the global running community.
