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With launch of Michael Johnson’s innovative ‘Grand Slam Track’, 2025 track and field season promises to be most exciting

By Elias Makori

The conclusion of the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold Series in Madrid and last week’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, now paves the way for what promises to be a long and exciting outdoor track and field season.

The Nanjing Sports Training Centre hosted the three-day global indoor competition from March 21 to 23 with the United States of America topping the medals table with 16 medals – six gold, four silver and six bronze, followed by Norway  with four (3-0-1) and Ethiopia with five, but a lower gold medal count (2-3-0).

This has paved way for the outdoor athletics season to kick off and climax with the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13 to 21, last weekend’s sold-out Maurie Plant Continental Tour meeting in Melbourne, Australia, the first major competition on the outdoor programme.

This year’s World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold Series launched in Astana, Kazakhstan, on January 25 and went through Belgrade (Serbia), Boston (USA), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Karlsruhe (Germany), New York (USA), Leivin (France) and Torun (Poland) before concluding in Madrid.

Indoor World Records

The talking point on the indoor circuit this year was certainly the four track world records broken in quick succession, three of these by Americans, signaling an exciting outdoor season coming up.

The indoor avalanche started at the historic Millrose Games on February 8 when USA’s double Olympic bronze medalist from Paris, Grant Fisher, shattered Ethiopian steeplechaser Lamecha Girma’s two-year-old indoor 3,000 metres record of seven minutes, 23.81 seconds by running a new best 7:22.91.

Fisher then netted his second world record in a week at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational meeting on February 14-15, eclipsing another Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele’s 21-year-old 5,000m record by 5.51 seconds, clocking 12:44.09.

His American compatriot Yared Nuguse, meanwhile, also struck at the iconic Millrose Games, running a world record 3:46.63 in the mile, a mark that was, however, broken again just five days later by the indefatigable Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen who clocked 3:45.14 at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Leivin, France, on February 13.

Then add record-breaking pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis into the mix, alongside Michael Johnson’s freshly-mooted “Grand Slam Track” four-meet track series, then 2025 promises to be the most exciting track and field season in years.

Duplantis soared one centimetre higher than his previous world record, clearing 6.27 metres for his 11^th career pole vault world record at the Clermont-Ferrand World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Central France.

The “Grand Slam Track” is a lucrative four-meet track series that will run from April to June in Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles with a prize purse of $12.6 million (Sh1.6 billion), mooted by legendary American sprinter Michael Johnson.

It comes hot on the heels of the inaugural women-only Athlos track and field meeting launched at the end of last year by tennis star Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian, offering the biggest cash awards for race winners in athletics history – $60,000 (Sh7.7 million). 

Fisher’s Road To Glory

Focusing on Fisher’s prowess, the American star’s latest success didn’t come by chance, but is the culmination of various adjustments to his track regimen, including changing of coaches and shifting of training bases.

And the results started to show at the Stade de France during last year’s Olympic Games where the native of Grand Blanc, Michigan, struck bronze medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

In the 5,000m final on August 10, Fisher was lying seventh with 150 metres to go, but managed to overhaul a star-studded cast to dip in for bronze in 13:15.13 behind race winner Ingebrigtsen (13:13.66) and Kenya’s silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi (13:15.04).

Earlier on, in the 10,000m final on August 2, Fisher, 27, ran a tactical race, staying glued to the lead pack of nine at the bell and was destined for silver but was only beaten at the tape by a fast-finishing Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi (26:43.44) who trailed Uganda’s gold medalist Joshua Cheptegei (Olympic record 26:43.14).

Fisher’s bronze-winning time was 26:43.46, and his overall Olympic success was legendary: He became only the fourth American to medal in the 10,000m at the Olympics after Lewis Tewanima (silver, 1912), Billy Mills (gold, 1964) and Galen Rupp (silver 2012); he is the only American to have medaled in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at an Olympic Games.

The achievements catapulted him to sort of a cult figure in Michigan, with his hometown of Grand Blanc throwing a parade to welcome him from Paris and the Detroit Lions (NFL), Utah Jazz (NBA) and Utah Hockey Club (NHL) all honouring Fisher at their respective games.

“The (Paris Olympics) has been a very historic meeting for US athletics, especially on the men’s side. We had medals from the 1,500m, steeplechase, 5,000m and 10,000m. I don’t think that has happened many times before,” Fisher reflected in an exclusive interview with Pura Vida Sports Africa focusing on the success in Paris where he bagged his double, Nuguse nicked a 1,500m bronze and Kenneth Rooks panned a surprise silver in the steeplechase for the stars and stripes.

‘Training A Bit Harder Now’

“People are believing in themselves a little bit more. Watching each other succeed helps your mentality,” he explained, noting that East African distance running stars always look up to someone to motivate their performances.

“A lot of the East African nations that are strong in distance running always have someone in the mix… they always have a role model, someone to look up to and be inspired by him.

“In the US it’s (role models) a little bit rare, but at this (Paris) Olympics) we have had all our teammates do well, and that energizes you and makes you believe that you belong at that stage too.”

He also pointed out the fact that American distance runners are training a bit harder now and optimizing their training better, noting that his change of coaches – dropping his tactician of four years, Jerry Schumacher, and reuniting with his high school coach from his days at Grand Blanc High School, Mike Scannell – helped him improve, thanks to Scannell’s bespoke training programme.

“I switched coaches and training groups and training locations and it has paid off really well. There are a lot of factors leading to our improvements, but the most important is keeping the momentum. The US team believe in themselves a lot more than we did in the past,” Fisher explained.

Before Paris, Fisher made a radical transformation to his training regime, moving from the Bowerman Track Club in “Tracktown” Eugene, Oregon, to intensive, individual training in Park City, Utah.

Threshold Training Workouts

He adopted “threshold” training – workouts that helps the body sustain high-intensity effort over longer periods and helps athletes avoid overtraining.

“Similar to what many East African runners do, I moved to high altitude. I usually look at the best guys in the world and I learn from them. A lot of these guys train in and line in high altitude and so I’m doing the same,” he explained his move.

“I now live in Park City, Utah. It’s about 2,100 metres above sea level and a live and train there all year round and that’s helped a lot. Success breeds success and watching the guys that I wanna be with and the guys that I wanna be, and seeing what they do and trying to learn what I can from them has helped.”

So whom does Fisher look up to?, I asked.

“When I was young, Matt (Matthew) Centrowitz (2016 Olympic 1,500m gold medalist) was someone I looked up to,” he responded. 

“I thought I was a miler when I was a kid… I thought I was a 1,500m guy and he (Matthew) was always very good at tactical races and I loved the fact that he would show up at championships and do well. Now he’s a really good friend of mine, so it’s kind of like full circle, but when I was a kid I thought he was the coolest!”

I also sought to know what his preferred distance on the track is: “My favourite is probably 3,000m, but I’m probably best at 5,000m and 10,000m,” was his response.

Grand Slam Marquee Athlete

Fisher is among the marquee athletes in this year’s inaugural “Grand Slam Track” and will race in the long distance events (3,000m, 5,000m) at the four meets where he will compete against, among others, Kenya’s Olympic 5,000m silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi, and Fisher’s coach Scannell says the 27-year-old star is unlikely to race anywhere else until after the last meeting of the “Grand Slam Track” series in Los Angeles in June 27-29.

Indeed he wasn’t at the World Indoors in Nanjing.

After all, with a prize of $10,000 (Sh1.2 million) guaranteed for a last-placed athletes in each of the “Grand Slam Track” events, he will already be guaranteed S40,000 (Sh4.8 million) in prize money.

Fisher’s compatriot and Olympic 1,500m bronze medalist Nuguse will also be competing in the “Grand Slam Track” in the 800m and 1,500m.

Born of Ethiopian parents Alem Nuguse and Mana Berhe, who fled Ethiopia as refugees and settled in the USA in the 1980s, Nuguse is also a silver medalist from the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

“The focus of Grand Slam Track is on head to head competition, not winning times. There will be no rabbits or pacing lights,” organisers of Michael Johnson’s latest track show explain.

“Each Slam is equally as important as any other, will have its own prize purse, and will be independently scored, with points and previous finishes not carrying over to the following Slams.  All racers will compete twice over the three-day event, and all Slam events will meet World Athletics regulations, with achieved marks being eligible for rankings and standards.”

This certainly sets the stage for an exciting 2025 track and field season with the rising Americans taking the battle to the East African fortress.

The resurgence of middle and long distance track racing in the land of Donald Trump is certainly the best news for organisers of the 2028 Olympic Games which will see the action return to Los Angeles, host city of the 1984 Games.

Meanwhile, let’s stay tuned for further American glory on the track!

• elias.makori@ymail.com