GRAND Slam Track (GST) President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Gera insists his entity’s series of race meets is not intended to rival World Athletics’s Diamond League.

Founded by legendary Olympic Games gold medallist Michael Johnson, Grand Slam Track is scheduled to roll out in 2025 with the staging of four race meets, each in a different city. The concept is derived from tennis, which has four majors in a seasonal schedule.

Johnson, the American former 200m and 400m world record holder, has long advocated for athletics meet organisers to implement innovative ways to boost spectator interest.

GST is track-specific, in contrast to the Diamond League which incorporates field events into its schedule.

Gera said Grand Slam Track’s mission is to showcase the most exciting racing talents in head-to-head competition through immersive, technologically advanced television coverage and exclusive athletes’ profiles.

“We [Grand Slam Track and Diamond League] are both born from track, but I think we are a slightly different value proposition. We view ourselves as the top-tier, premier league of racing,” he told the Jamaica Observer during a telephone interview in October.

“We encourage our racers to [compete] in the Diamond League meets. I think the Diamond League is a fine product and obviously something that resonates across the world, but we don’t view them as competitors.

“The market has fewer major premium events annually compared to other sports. We’re bringing to the market a truly professional track league that is really based on the best racers racing against each other in a competition that highlights rivalries, and highlights the amazing performers that they are,” Gera explained.

In a September press release, Diamond League announced it intends to boost athletes’ prize money to the highest levels since its series was launched in 2010.

Diamond League organisers said the total prize money to be paid over the course of a season will increase to US$9.24 million in 2025. The press release said that is almost a third higher than the sum paid during the period of the past four years, which was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Next season’s Diamond League is scheduled for stops in 15 cities.

GST organisers say they have secured US$30 million in financial commitments from investors. The combined prize money for next year’s league is projected to top US$12 million.

“We anticipate raising more money in the future but for right now we’re in a really great position and we’re looking to take those dollars and make sure we use them to showcase our racers and cities in an amazing light… on television in the United States and across the globe.

“At the end of the day, that’s the main impetus — like an amazing storytelling platform that goes to televisions across the world,” Gera said.

Though GST organisers have confirmed Los Angeles, United States, as one of the host cities they are yet to announce the other three stops. However, it is expected that on Monday, Jamaica will be named as a host country.

Jamaica has never hosted the Diamond League.

Gera told the Observer last month that Jamaica’s National Stadium was “high on the list” of potential GST venues for the 2025 edition.

“Our event is really like a speed festival celebrating not only the best athletes in the world competing in track but also the way that we are going to show up is very different from a normal track meet.

“And that’s part of the reason we think Jamaica might end up being a wonderful home for this if we are able to make it work — it’s frankly because of the cultural vibe that the fans and the racers can bring to it,” the GST president explained.

The star-studded cast of athletes contracted to compete in Grand Slam Track’s inaugural campaign includes the phenomenal American Women’s 400m Hurdles world record holder and Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

British 2023 World Championships Men’s 1500m gold medallist Josh Kerr, Puerto Rican Tokyo Olympics women’s sprint hurdles gold medal winner Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, and Dominican Republic’s Paris Olympics Women’s 400m champion Marileidy Paulino have also signed deals.

The global line-up includes Jamaican flavour in the form of Olympic Games Women’s 400m Hurdles bronze medallist Rushell Clayton, national 100m Hurdles record holder Ackera Nugent, and world Under-20 Men’s 400m Hurdles record holder Roshawn Clarke.

USA’s Women’s 400 Hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (AFP)

Grand Slam Track President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Gera (left) and Jamaica’s Minister of Sport Olivia Grange