Grading the 2025 Grand Slam Track Women’s Racer Groups

In part 1 of this article, I offered a few thoughts on Grand Slam Track’s 48-athlete roster of Racers for the 2025 season and handed out grades to the six men’s event groups. Now it’s time to grade the six women’s event groups.

A reminder from part 1: this is not an exact science, and it’s important to acknowledge that right now, we only know half of the field for each Slam. Some event groups could become much stronger at certain meets depending on who signs up as Challengers. These are midterm grades; final ones won’t be handed out until months from know when we know the exact makeup of each Slam.

So let’s think of it this way: these grades reflect how excited I am to see these four athletes line up and race against each other four times next year.

Women’s 100/200

Grade: B+

Thomas could race in either the 100/200 or 200/400 groups during the 2025 GST season (Kevin Morris photo)

B+ might seem harsh for a group that contains one Olympic champion and three medalists, plus Daryll Neita, who missed a medal in Paris by .04 in the 100 and .03 in the 200. But then I think about who is not running. There’s no Julien Alfred, no Sha’Carri Richardson, and no Jamaicans at all, leading to a US-heavy group lacking two of the sport’s biggest stars.

Women’s 200/400

Grade: A

On paper, this group has to be an A. You’ve got the Olympic gold and silver medalists as well as one of the best young talents in the world in Nickisha Pryce, the NCAA champion for Arkansas whose 48.57 sb ranked her #3 in the world this year. But there’s just not a ton of buzz around this event. Naser served a two-year whereabouts ban. Paulino never loses, and the person with the best shot of defeating her is in a different GST event group. GST is letting its Racers move around, though, so if Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone drops down to this group for a Slam, this event becomes must-watch. And if she doesn’t, it goes down as a huge missed opportunity for GST.

Women’s 800/1500

Grade: B-

After winning back-to-back US 1500 titles, Hiltz will be part of GST in 2025 (Kevin Morris photo)

There are two Olympic medalists here in Hull and Moraa, and Welteji earned silver in the 1500 at the 2023 Worlds. But the three biggest names in this group —Faith Kipyegon, Athing Mu, and Keely Hodgkinson — are all absent.

Women’s 3000/5000

Grade: D

Gebreselama had the #2 time in the world this year in the 5000m, and Ngetich is a big talent (though perhaps more suited to the roads). But Gebreselama is the only woman in this group who even finished in the top 10 at this year’s Olympics. It may have been hard to pin down Sifan Hassan and get her to join GST, but what about Beatrice Chebet, Gudaf Tsegay, or Nadia Battocletti?

Women’s 100 hurdles/100

Grade: A+

There is a lot of talent in this event, so narrowing it down to just four athletes was always going to be tough. But it’s hard to beat signing the entire Olympic podium plus the world leader Ackera Nugent. Great job with this group.

Women’s 400 hurdles/400

Grade: A-

The two obvious absences here are the Olympic silver and bronze medalists Anna Cockrell and Femke Bol. It’s understandable why the European-based Bol would opt out, less so for the US-based Cockrell. Britton Wilson — remember her? — would also have been perfect for this group but is a slightly riskier pick due to her injury issues the last two years.

But I’m giving GST a ton of credit for signing Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. For much of her career, SML has raced sparingly and refused to double in the 400/400 hurdles. Now, thanks to GST, she will do both in 2025.

That said, there are a couple of drawbacks to signing SML:

1) She is so much better than everyone else in the 400H/400 group that it’s unlikely any of these races are competitive. This is why it’s important SML competes against Paulino in the 200/400 group in at least one slam.

2) SML has been known to withdraw from meets on a whim. Are we sure she’s really going to double at all four Grand Slams? What happens if Bobby Kersee “sees something” in one of her warmups?

And that’s it for the grades. Check back next year for more analysis as GST stars rolling out its Challengers in 2025.

*Men’s grades here

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