JOSH KERR INTERVIEW: Michael Johnson got in touch to pitch his new big-money track league… it’s going to make waves in athletics
When Josh Kerr was sounded out about a revolutionary new athletics competition, he initially feared he was being recruited for a rather more controversial concept.
‘At first I thought it was the Enhanced Games!’ the world 1500 metres champion reveals to Mail Sport. ‘I could have been the face of the Enhanced Games by accident! That wouldn’t have been good, would it?’
The Enhanced Games is a proposed Olympic-style event in which athletes are allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs. To Kerr’s relief, however, he soon discovered the venture he was being poached for was a big-money track league founded by US legend Michael Johnson, where doping is illegal.
‘Because it was very secretive and no information had come out about it, I was like, “Is there testing?”‘ continues the 27-year-old. ‘When they said yes, I was like, “OK, good start”.
‘Then I had a call with Michael and I listened to his business pitch. I asked a lot of questions and it took me a long time to make sure this was the right decision – and it is.
‘I don’t want to sit here and complain about the sport, that there’s not enough money or a big enough audience, and not do anything about it. We have to be part of that change – and I think this is the change.’
Josh Kerr revealed he listened to Michael Johnson’s business pitch for Grand Slam Track
The big-money track league was founded by Johnson and kicks off in Kingston, Jamaica
That change is called Grand Slam Track (GST) and it kicks off on Friday in Kingston, Jamaica, with the US cities of Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles hosting the other three-day meets between now and the end of June.
Kerr was the first Briton to sign up as one of GST’s 48 ‘racers’ – athletes who are contracted to compete in the whole four-event series. Zharnel Hughes, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Daryll Neita then followed suit.
Other runners will take part at ad-hoc meets as ‘challengers’. Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Neil Gourley and Melissa Courtney-Bryant will all race in Kingston in this role.
Each athlete must compete over two distances at each meet in one of six categories: short sprints (100m, 200m), short hurdles (100m, 100m/110m hurdles), long sprints (200m, 400m), long hurdles (400m, 400m hurdles), short distance (800m, 1,500m) or long distance (3,000m, 5,000m).
Champions of each category at each Slam will receive $100,000 (£77,000), but there is prize money for all participants, with eighth place getting $10,000 (£7,700). Category winners will be determined by the best combined points score from their two races, with 10 points for first place, eight for second, six for third, down to one for eighth.
Olympic 1500m silver medallist Kerr will be up against the men he shared the Paris 2024 podium with, Americans Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse, but his big rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen is not involved.
Asked what he is being paid to be a racer, the Scot says: ‘I don’t believe I’m allowed to say any numbers, but it’s a lot more than the prize money. They’re doing a really good job of treating the athletes like professionals.
‘We have guaranteed money just for showing up and that’s important because we’re contractors, we’re not employees, and we have to pay the bills.
Kerr, the first Briton to join as one of GST’s 48 ‘racers’, has praised the Slam’s platform
Zharnel Hughes has also signed up, as have Matthew Hudson-Smith and Daryll Neita
Despite criticism of Johnson’s new league, Kerr says it will be transformational for track
‘It’s not my motivation. My motivation is to be on a massive platform showing off our sport. But it would be stupid to deny that that made a difference in some of the decision making, because of course it does.’
One decision Kerr made because of his involvement in the league was to skip last weekend’s World Indoor Championships in China. Gold medallists at that event received $40,000 (£31,000), something Kerr was critical of when he won the 3,000m title in Glasgow last year.
‘Missing a major championship is not what I want, but the sport is changing and I’ve signed to do four races with this league,’ says Kerr. ‘If I want to try to retain my outdoor world title in September, I have to take a break somewhere.’
Given the riches on offer and how it has disrupted the sport’s status quo, GST has brought comparisons with the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
‘I don’t know if it’s quite got the drama of LIV versus the PGA!’ says Kerr. ‘But golf has transcended over the last four years. They have all these things that is great for the fan experience. What do we have that is great for the fan experience? We don’t. The product’s not good enough at the moment.
‘The World Championships and Olympics are amazing, but when you’re talking about something that happens every two or four years you’re just not going to create the audience.’
It remains to be seen how GST will help grow athletics audiences in the UK, given all four events are in North America and it is being broadcast behind a TV paywall, on TNT Sports.
But despite criticism of GST being too US-centric, Kerr is confident it will be transformational for track.
‘We can grab a wider audience and make it a spectacle,’ he says. ‘We just need a bigger stage. We need more people watching and talking about the sport.’
