Effects of GST felt in different ways across World Champs

TOKYO, Japan:

The failure of Michael Johnson's attempt to transform track and field with the Grand Slam Track (GST) league hovered over big swaths of the sport's World Championships over its nine-day run in Tokyo.

Dozens of athletes who competed but didn't get paid adjusted their 2025 schedules so they could run in the league's four events, which turned out to only be three after the final meet in Los Angeles was scrubbed.

Those who struggled at Worlds -- distance runners who participated in the GST stood out -- could look at the need of trying to peak three or more times over the season -- for the league, for their national championships, then for World Championships -- as part of their problem.

But others who ran in the league thrived in Tokyo, and it was an impressive list that included Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Oblique Seville and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

MIXED RESULTS

American Jasmine Jones, who won the silver medal in the 400-metre hurdles, ran in GST. Her coach said success there built confidence, but came at a price.

"A lot of people changed their season," said Jones' coach, 2004 Olympic gold medallist Joanna Hayes. "Some people it worked out for. Some people it didn't. I hope they figure out a way to pay the athletes. They really did work hard for that league."

Some, like American 400m runner Jacory Patterson, saw their lives change after winning meets in Grand Slam Track. Patterson landed a deal with Nike. But after coming into Tokyo as a favourite, he finished a disappointing seventh.

Unlike most pro sports in the United States, track is a sport filled with athletes who do side gigs to make ends meet -- UPS drivers, Walmart, selling cell phones -- so missing five-figure or larger payments is bound to have an impact.

McLaughlin-Levrone, one of the few "haves" in the sport, did not buy into the view that the league's collapse was a sign of bigger trouble.

"I think the unfortunate nature of that situation is exclusive to that situation," she said. "I don't think that at all reflects on the athletes and our sport."

NOAH'S NEXT MOVE

Noah Lyles, never a fan of GST, hasn't soured on the idea of a league that might make track better.

"I want to be able to set track and field, the sport, up in (the) best position to springboard to be independently great, away from the amateurism we are experiencing," Lyles said.

What that might look like is anybody's guess, but he hinted in an interview with Bloomberg before the championships that it needed to be better planned and about more than watching people run.

"Let's put on a production and, as I've gone to more and more events, it's not so much the sport that I was watching, but how I felt when I was there," Lyles said. - AP