I see this as a potential problem for Johnson and his organization.
Can't imagine many athletes are sitting at home, watching this, and thinking "Yeah, this looks like a good way to spend my season"
I think they'll really struggle to fill the next meets, especially at 8/15 and 3/5K
not sure I agree with this. If I’m a world class 5k guy, I’m watching this and thinking wow, I can make a decent payday for doing two tempo runs and 2x400m.
Yeah, and if you're an 8/15 guy, I don't think your that scared either. And you know those races are gonna still be hyped up all season because of Cole, Yared and Josh. Hobbs and Hoey are licking their chops
not sure I agree with this. If I’m a world class 5k guy, I’m watching this and thinking wow, I can make a decent payday for doing two tempo runs and 2x400m.
Bingo! There are probably potential challengers calling their agents this weekend saying, "Can you get me into the Grand Slam meet?" I am a fan of Emily Infeld but let's face it, her best days are behind her and she will never make another US team. But she came away with $20,000 for a weekend's work. There are a lot of US runners who won't make that much in race winning for the entire 2025.
They announced the full fields for the Jamaica meet three weeks out. That means they could release the new field by the end of this week.
What challengers would you want to see?
Men's 800/1500 - Kessler, Hoey
Men's 3000/5000 - Blanks, Young
Women's 800/1500 - Wiley, Mackay
Women's 3000/5000 - Valby, Schweizer
A specialty Women’s 400/800 featuring - Athing Mu, Mary Moraa, Anna Hall, Shafiqua Maloney, and professional debuts in the 800m for Femke Bol and Isabelle Whittaker.
(Let me dream.)
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
I think you will see blanks in Philadelphia and Nico in LA. Completely makes sense and I think both guys will put forth an effort to make these races competitive.
not sure I agree with this. If I’m a world class 5k guy, I’m watching this and thinking wow, I can make a decent payday for doing two tempo runs and 2x400m.
Bingo! There are probably potential challengers calling their agents this weekend saying, "Can you get me into the Grand Slam meet?" I am a fan of Emily Infeld but let's face it, her best days are behind her and she will never make another US team. But she came away with $20,000 for a weekend's work. There are a lot of US runners who won't make that much in race winning for the entire 2025.
Infeld did the organizers a huge favor by signing up to run two races in terrible weather on less than a week’s notice.
Totally agree. Hoey would have picked up an easy 50k with a decent chance at 100k if he had been a challenger. I don’t see why 800/1500 guys wouldn’t want the pay day for running a couple of tactical races instead of whatever training they’d otherwise be doing.
I see this as a potential problem for Johnson and his organization.
Can't imagine many athletes are sitting at home, watching this, and thinking "Yeah, this looks like a good way to spend my season"
I think they'll really struggle to fill the next meets, especially at 8/15 and 3/5K
No US-based athlete outside of the top 5% (who get 25-50K+ appearance fees) is turning down the next 3 GSTs. There are a plethora of options. The next one has Adizero Road to Records near it so that could delay Kessler/Hoey until Philly depending on how adidas wants to play it with their suddenly loaded 800/1500 group.
I’d like to see some of the Florida big names as challengers but I’m skeptical. Gilman/Blanks in the LD would be good as well as giving Masalela a call for the 800/1500m group.