By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Grand Slam Track has cancelled its Los Angeles meet, sources with the novel athletics circuit told Reuters, as the organisers brought the debut season to an abrupt early end.
The Michael Johnson-fronted track series lured in top talent with super-sized prize money but saw poor attendance at its kick-off meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, and later cut its third meet in Philadelphia from three to two days.
The series is expected to return in 2026 with new investors and partnerships set to be announced next week.
The economics of the deal with Drake Stadium in Los Angeles was the motivating factor in cancelling what was intended to be the final meet of the year, the Grand Slam Track sources said.
Grand Slam invited athletes to a Zoom call later on Thursday after the conclusion of the Diamond League meeting in Oslo, according to a Times report.
Grand Slam was announced ahead of the 2024 Paris Games amid mounting concerns over athlete pay, as World Athletics for the first time paid $50,000 to gold medal winners in a controversial move that bucked 128 years of Olympic tradition.
With a whopping $12.6 million in total prize money across what was set to be four meets, Johnson’s start-up caught the attention of track’s established circuits, as the long-time standard-bearer Diamond League added more to its prize pot.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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