LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — US athletics great Michael Johnson on Tuesday announced the creation of a new circuit aimed at gathering the world’s top runners competing for US$100,000 top prizes at four elite meetings a year.

Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medallist turned commentator for the BBC, said Grand Slam Track would debut in April of 2025 with two meetings in the United States and two international stops.

One US venue will be in Los Angeles, host city of the 2028 Olympics, Johnson said.

The meetings will feature track races only, no field events, divided into categories of short sprints, long sprints, high hurdles, low hurdles, middle distance and long distance, with men’s and women’s races in each category.

Each category will feature athletes competing in two events per meeting, short sprint competitors, for example, racing at both 100m and 200m.

The league said it had already signed 400m hurdles world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who will be among 48 athletes under contract to Grand Slam Track and committed to competing in all four meetings of the season.

Another 48 athletes will be invited to take part according to “their track record and current form” and paid appearance fees to take part.

The winners in each race category at each meeting will receive US$100,000, and the second-placed finisher US$50,000, with the eighth-placed finisher in each category taking home US$10,000.