Official Grand Slam Track Kingston - Day 1 Live Discussion Thread

ALMOST all Jamaican Track fans care about are Jamaican sprint athletes and maybe Natayle Goule.

You aren't actually a fan of distance running if you think these races are any different than diamond leagues. There were plenty of incredible 3000m/5000m races on the diamond league last year and in 2023. In Oslo in both years the winning times were won in 12:41 and 12:36, both included TACTICS. Laussane 5000m with Aregawi displaying full dominance over Cheptegei the world record holder and Olympic Champion. Monaco 5000m, Prefontaine Classic 3000m, Florence 5000m, Silesia 3000m. The tactics in todays 5000m was literally just sit around, let Cooper Teare take the pace, and then speed up for a final 400m sprint. All the other races above had more tactics than that.

Not a good look when most of the Jamaican stars would rather race for free at Miramar, Fla this weekend then race in front of the hometown fans for a payday

....

My time reduction clause would have been smart to implement, anytime several women including American women can run the time of the top 3 men.... IT'S BEYOND ACCEPTABLE and full payment shouldn't be administered.

Nearly empty stands were a tough look. I'm not sure how this is sustainable if no one shows up and they keep paying this much prize money.

I'm rooting for it to succeed, but the lack of atmosphere today was rough. Actually felt bad for the athletes and the commentators trying to soldier through. I'm sure this isn't what they pictured when they signed up. Hope the other host sites are more enthusiastic.

A few thoughts:

The new Mondo is gorgeous and the high angle shots of venue with the ocean in the background is pretty cool. It's disappointing that they couldn't get fuller stands, but it is what it is and the horns and stuff at least gives the illusion of raucous crowd.

I understand that presenting in a satisfactory manner for both new to the sport and very knowledgeable audiences is probably an impossible task, but I think splits are one of the things that helps everyone (especially the announcers). Numbers getting bigger or smaller each lap helps tell about the dynamics, the cat and mouse gamesmanship of a distance race more than waiting for the announcer to say "well they're stringing out so you know it's quick". And of course the knowledgeable audience gets "holy crap 58/75 is suicide/recovery jog pace for them!"

If you're looking for novelty, splits in the 400(h), or better yet live stride patterns for the 400h, would be interesting. Yes, racing is simple, who gets to the line first, but getting an idea of whose race plan is going out super hard could provide more appreciation for what's going on under the hood.

The fact that I never heard once about how the warm humid weather would affect the races is just a total fail for all the announcers. Athletes responding differently to the adverse conditions and either going for it (women's 3k) or playing it safe (men's 5k) is a huge narrative piece in my mind. Also how can you have points for places and not keep the camera on the finish line until everyone is done.

Everyone talks about rivalries driving interest, but they only have puff pieces on like 3 Americans the whole time. It really assumes you're already a track fan. And as one I know everyone by last name, so the first name on the bib was pretty confusing.

Honestly, all in all this was as good or better than those early season diamond leagues in China or wherever. Nothing too ground breaking, but maybe seeing how people double back the next few days could be fun. Fun races all around. 400h were probably the most boring races since there wasn't a person in the world who didn't guess the winners right, but seeing 52 and 47 mid this early in the year was cool. The 5k was a bit of a drag, but the last lap was awesome and the tension building from 1200 to go was pretty fun too.

I'd probably give it a 7/10 so far, not must see tv, but a quality 1.5hrs of track. I enjoyed it. Unfortunately I don't really see it improving/getting more hype over the rest of the meet or slams and approaching Monaco or US trials status.

Yes, some of the races were interesting, a little, but the whole thing was an utter disaster. A bloated over long broadcast in an empty stadium with zero energy. I’m not sure they can recover and I can’t imagine this experiment will see a 2nd year unless something changes. I’m not a hater and I’m a little sad, but just calling it like I saw it this evening.

size of crowd is not going to be much better at the next 3 stops.

Fla - will look like a bit fuller stands but the "stadium" at Miramar is MUCH smaller

Phili - the crowd will once again get lost in Franklin Field. Sound will echo

La - The crowd at the 2 LA Grand Prix meets were sadly small and don't expect anything different here

As someone else pointed out, this series will only draw those die hard fans of track and field. Nobody not familiar with track will tune in.

Shoot, I guess I did miss all those Diamond League races where Teare led for a bit, Hagos blasted the start of the last lap and I wondered for a few meters whether he'd hold on longer than at the Olympics, and Grant kicked past Hagos, Teare, and Dylan Jacobs(?!) to win. My b.

I do love Diamond Leagues, and I'm excited to watch them. I really hope we get to see Jakob, Grant, Hagos, and Bekele in a couple paced record attempts. And while I'd prefer that not every GST be a 13:XX jog + last lap sprint, I certainly don't mind it, and especially not in the first one. The anticipation was fun, and I'm interested to see where it goes and how people's tactics evolve going forward.

Distance races are not a team event. When people say why didn't the guys try to make it a fast race this assumes they are working together, their not obviously.

Also good idea I heard on here about having mid way splits. How about doing it like cycling races where the last guy is run out after every lap. Or picking up points along the way. Would be great to see something different like that.

Ansin Sports Complex (Miami) - 5,000+

Drake Stadium (Los Angeles) - 11,700

Franklin Field (Philadelphia) - 53,000

Franklin Field has the potential to look like a ghost town if a lot more fans don't show up.

In the future (if there is a future lol) I'd love to see them try to add team scoring by sponsor to the event. Without really looking at the details it certainly seems like there's enough variety in sponsor and winners across events that it could work now that it isn't just a platoon of Nike runners in the same exact uniform every meet.

Maybe they can convince Beyoncé to perform at Franklin Field after each day of competition, BUT you can only stay to see her IF you sit and watch ALL the races. That would work to generate interest. They need to get creative!!

Yeah. I don't have much trouble believing that a 3:55.33 1500m runner can run 1:58.xx

I sense a lack of creativity and essentially a lack of love for the sport. If you loved something truly you would not treat it like this. When we truly love something we intuitively do a good job. I've never bought the idea that parenting is a result of not knowing what to do, it is very often that they simply don't care enough. When you care truly you find a way.

And bean counters have insane ideas like probably asking Valerie Allman if she can throw an Olympic record in the 6th round because that's the ideal time to sell candy and soft drinks to all the fat kids watching.

Criticism hurts but when you love something truly you would never care only want to know what's best to do.

I realize its not easy but that stupid tape thing at the end could get an athlete hurt. I saw a marathon last year where a female athlete tried to run through the line and it didn't break and she fell over! Imagine running a 2.20 marathon and getting closed line at the end! That is not a mistake its a lack of love, a lack of care. Novelty stuff that changes nothing.

Feel free to criticise me for being a negative nelly but I think I'm right. What plans were in place for the crowd. Do they even care? Id be heartbroken if I was heading that up and the crowd were like that, I'd feel I let everybody down. How about giving free tickets to all the poorest Jamaicans and tell them to have a party. How hard is this really?

Franklin Field has an upper deck so that number might not mean quite the same thing, but yeah likely a big empty stadium.

I think the dead time between races would stop being a problem if 1) the crews get some rapport with each other 2) they control of replays and have splits so they can break down the race. Think 100m splits and reaction times for the sprints and highlighting important moves in distance. When they have to rely on what the broadcast replays and react they only have the opportunity for surface level commentary.

No, getting beat in 14:39 at this level is inexcusable...

You spelled "14:XX" wrong.