Monaco (AFP) – World Athletics president Sebastian Coe insisted Wednesday that he wanted Michael Johnson’s four-meet Grand Slam Track series to be a success that adds lustre to the sport. Former Olympic sprint champion Johnson’s Grand Slam makes its debut next year with four three-day, track-only events in Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Johnson’s series is widely seen as a challenge to the established Diamond League circuit of meets as the sport of athletics fights for the limelight outside of the Olympics and world championships.
Coe and World Athletics last month launched their own Ultimate Championship team event, the inaugural event of which will be held in Budapest on September 11-13, 2026. It will be staged every two years to fulfil World Athletics’ ambition of holding a global championship every year. Unlike Johnson’s Grand Slam, it will also feature field events and will take place after the Diamond League finals.
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“We should be comforted that we’ve created a landscape where people think that it’s worth investing in our sport,” Coe told a press conference after a World Athletics Council meeting in Monaco. “I’m very welcoming of all sorts of innovation. I’m welcoming of all sorts of investment, within reason. And it’s important that we work as collaborators here, not competitors.”
Coe said he wished “Michael and the Slams success.” “I want them to be successful. I want them to add lustre to our sport. And I think there’s space for everybody here, as long as there’s sort of communication and we have calendar coordination. I don’t see it as a threat. I’ve never, ever seen competition as a threat. You either work with competition or you don’t. And frankly, this (World Athletics) is an organisation that welcomes all sorts of innovation, and I think we’ve sort of shown that we’re not afraid of that.”
© 2024 AFP
