“I’m not a hater,” Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis says, as soon as the subject of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track (GST) comes up. Although Johnson was criticised for excluding field events from his new athletics league, pole vaulter Duplantis does not seem remotely riled up: “I’m not outraged or anything. I think I’m quite indifferent about the whole thing, honestly.”
The new league aims to bring top athletes together to compete in track events for big prize money. As the name suggests, Johnson is aiming to create standout points in the athletics calendar away from Olympics, in the same way as the grand slams dominate tennis every year.