Seb Coe is adamant Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is not a threat to World Athletics and he hopes the former sprint superstar’s new competition is successful.
American four-time Olympic champion Johnson launched Grand Slam Track in June with the championship set for its inaugural season in 2025.
Big-name announcements and lucrative prize money have helped build hype around the track-based competition, which will focus on events from 100 metres to 5000 metres.
As well as a prize pot of 12.6 million dollars ($A19.6 million), 48 contracted ‘racers’ will receive a base salary to compete at all four slams.
American cities Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles will host after the curtain-raiser in Kingston, Jamaica, while the Diamond League – the sport’s established professional circuit – will again hold 15 meetings in 2025 with record prize money totalling 9.2 million dollars ($A14.3 million).
“We should be comforted that we have created a landscape where people think it’s worth investing in our sport,” Coe, World Athletics president, at a press conference.
“They weren’t doing it five years ago and they certainty weren’t doing it 15 years ago. I’m very welcoming of all sorts of innovation and investment within reason.
“It’s important that we work as collaborators here and not competitors.
“I want them to be successful and add lustre to our sport. I think there is space for everybody here as long as there is communication and we have calendar co-ordination.
“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.
“Frankly, this is an organisation that welcomes all sorts of innovation. We’ve shown we’re not afraid of that, and I wish Michael success.”
Wolrd Athletics this year broke with decades of tradition by paying Olympic gold medallists in Paris, riling other international sports federations and the International Olympic Committee at a politically delicate time, with Coe a contender to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC president.
“I don’t think this is complicated – it was just a broader recognition that we are only an organisation that survives financially and with a sustainable revenue stream because of the extraordinary nature of our athletes,” Coe said.
The council approved the inclusion of the mixed 4×100 metres relay for the World Athletics Relays next year in Guangzhou, and new distances for race walking, with the 20 and 35km events replaced by races over the half-marathon and marathon distance.
The changes reflected the organisation’s embrace of innovation, Coe said, as World Athletics moves ahead with plans for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 2026, with gold medallists receiving $US150,000 ($A233,000).
The absence of a handful of key events from the programme, however, including shot put, discus, women’s hammer, men’s triple jump, 10,000 metres and 3,000 metres steeplechase, has frustrated fans and athletes alike.
Addressing what would happen at World Athletics if he won the IOC presidency next March, Coe also revealed he would immediately be replaced by senior vice-president Ximena Restrepo, the Colombian-Chilean former Olympic quarter-miler.
With Reuters
https://thewest.com.au/sport/athletics/coe-wants-johnson-initiative-to-add-lustre-to-athletics-c-16980239
