READY TO RUMBLE! – Jamaica Observer

As a few of the greatest monitor stars start to reach on Jamaican soil for this weekend’s Grand Slam Observe debut contained in the Nationwide Stadium, Michael Johnson, the person behind the revolutionary idea, is wanting ahead to an thrilling begin to the sequence.

This, as he underlines the worth of the occasion to the game on a world scale and its influence on the athletes concerned.

Superwoman hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone headlines a powerful listing of 48 racers; a cohort that boasts over half of the medals gained within the sport on the Paris Olympic Video games within the cash-rich, three-hour meet, that might be broadcast to nearly 200 international locations worldwide.

Grand Slam Observe will unfold on the Nationwide Stadium from Friday to Sunday and Johnson, who gained 4 Olympic gold medals and at one level held world data within the 200m and 400m, informed the Jamaica Observer that he’s wanting ahead to bringing the occasion to the world and believes that the vitality of the Jamaican followers will ignite the sequence.

“The followers are excited, the athletes are excited and I’m undoubtedly excited. We’ve been engaged on this for a really very long time and it’s right here. I can’t wait to see the athletes begin to race, that’s what’s going to be most compelling. That’s what we’ve been constructing on; it’s concerning the athletes and the racing. We acquired a few of the biggest athletes on this planet, quickest athletes on this planet, so, yeah, excited to get began,” mentioned Johnson.

Kingston marks the primary of 4 Grand Slam Observe occasions with follow-up stops in Miami (Could 2-4), Philadelphia (Could 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29).

The league will characteristic six occasion classes for women and men, with every occasion class carrying two disciplines that opponents will compete in over the course of a weekend.

Every class may have eight opponents in complete — 4 signed “Grand Slam Racers,” who had been chosen based mostly on their world rankings and deserves. The opposite 4 opponents would be the “Grand Slam Challengers,” — typically upcoming athletes.

Factors might be allotted for placements with the athlete with the very best mixed rating for the 2 occasions of their class securing the win and US$100,000. Money prizes might be distributed to every place with the last-placed athlete strolling away with US$10,000.

“Whereas it’s a brand new idea, it’s acquainted to them. They’re nonetheless racing the races that they know. It’s only a matter of now they’re racing two completely different races over a weekend, and their mixed rating determines who wins. So the athletes are excited. It’s recent, it’s a recent method on the game, and so they get to race towards their rivals. In order that’s what they’ve all the time wished. So it’s thrilling for us to have the ability to ship it,” mentioned Johnson.

With the organisers serving to to fund the relayering of monitor contained in the Nationwide Stadium, Johnson mentioned he was pleased with the ultimate outcome and the obvious pace of the monitor.

“We labored actually exhausting on that to ensure that we are able to get the monitor in earlier than Champs and we had been in a position to do this. Clearly, we had been very excited after I first noticed the design, I used to be like, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to do that.’ And so it’s been nice, realizing that we had been capable of ship one thing that the Jamaican public have been actually pleased with. The response has simply been superb. It’s some of the stunning tracks on this planet, however judging from Champs, and a few of the occasions the youngsters had been operating, these had been fairly quick, too, which is nice.”

Nonetheless, the US sprinting legend says the main target shouldn’t be about quick occasions, relatively pitting high opponents towards one another and presenting incomes and publicity alternatives for athletes, whereas packaging and presenting the game in a fashion that may drive curiosity to a wider viewers.

“The athletes wish to compete in huge moments the place the races imply one thing. The athletes wish to be compensated higher. The followers wish to see the quickest individuals run collectively. The followers wish to see it on TV. We’re doing all of these issues. We’re paying the very best prize cash you’ve ever seen within the sport. We’re broadcasting to 189 international locations all over the world from right here in Kingston. That is superb. So we would like that stadium to be full,” Johnson added.

With just a few of the game’s greatest names not on board this season, Johnson says he expects higher buy-in sooner or later however credited the massive names and challengers who’ve signed on to compete within the high-stakes competitors

“I feel it’s a testomony to the greatness and the bravery of those that have joined. So we’ve got 48 racers that we signed to the league. These 48 racers symbolize over 50 per cent of the medals that had been gained on the Olympics in Paris. That’s what this sport has wanted…So I’m extraordinarily proud and pleased with the 48 racers that we’ve got, and the entire challengers which have are available as nicely,” mentioned Johnson.

Moreover McLaughlin-Levrone, the 400m hurdles Olympic champion and world file holder, Grand Slam Observe will characteristic different worldwide stars reminiscent of Fred Kerley, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Gabby Thomas, Marileidy Paulino, Zharnel Hughes, Kenny Bednareck, Alison Dos Santos, and Masai Russell.

Among the many big-ticket Jamaicans set to compete are Indirect Seville, Rushell Clayton, Roshawn Clarke, Ackera Nugent, and Nickisha Pryce.

Friday’s opening day is scheduled to get underway at 5:42 pm with the ladies’s lengthy sprints which can characteristic Thomas, Pryce, Dina Asher-Smith, Salwa Eid Naser, and Alexis Holmes amongst others. The day’s motion is to finish at 7:21 pm.

On Saturday, the meet additionally begins at 5:42 pm and runs till 7:21 pm with Sunday’s ultimate day commencing at 2:42 pm and shutting out at 4:21 pm.