Grand Slam Track Philadelphia: American Stars Josh Hoey, Hobbs Kessler, Nico Young, Graham Blanks, Nia Akins & Addy Wiley Make Their GST Debuts

Grand Slam Track resumes this weekend in Philadelphia with the biggest non-Penn Relays meet to be held in the city in years. With its brick walls, short straightaways, wonky configuration (lanes 1-3 are all shorter than 400 meters), and the facade of Weightman Hall at the western end of the stadium, Franklin Field is one of America’s iconic tracks. And with a capacity of over 52,000, it is also one of the largest.

After staging the first two meets in Kingston and Miramar, Grand Slam Track has made some significant changes for meet #3. The event program has been condensed from three days to two, and the 5,000 meters has been eliminated, leaving competitors in the long distance group running one 3,000m race with a $50,000 prize for first while the other five event groups race twice for $100,000. With 2024 US Olympians Nico Young and Graham Blanks joining Olympic medalist Grant Fisher this weekend, the men’s 3,000 should still be one of the highlights in Philly.

And from an American perspective, the men’s 800/1500 group is even more stacked than usual as Challengers Josh Hoey and Hobbs Kessler join Racers Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker, and Marco Arop. The women’s 800/1500 should also be very strong as Addy Wiley, US 800 champion Nia Akins, and Olympic 1500 medalist Georgia Hunter Bell will make their Grand Slam Track debuts against Racers Nikki Hiltz, Jessica Hull, Diribe Welteji, and Mary Moraa. In the hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is switching things up as she’ll be running the 100H/100 after dominating the 400H/400 in the first two meets; unfortunately, Olympic 100H champ Masai Russell, who set an American record at the last GST meet, won’t be competing this weekend due to injury.

Below, what to watch for from the five most entertaining event groups in Philadelphia, counting down from #5 to #1.

Grand Slam Track Philadelphia meet details
When: Saturday, May 31 – Sunday, June 1
Where: Franklin Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
*Schedule/entries *How to watch

5) Men’s 100/200: Christian Coleman & Christian Miller try to challenge Kenny Bednarek

200: Saturday, 5:07 p.m. ET 100: Sunday, 5:22 p.m. ET

Through the first five months of 2025, Kenny Bednarek has been the most dominant male sprinter in the United States, and it has not been close. Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles has competed just once outdoors, and that was a 400m race in April. Ditto Erriyon Knighton (okay, Knighton ran two 400s). Fred Kerley was crushed in the first Grand Slam meet in Kingston and though his form has improved since then, he was suspended from Grand Slam Track after a fight at the meet hotel in Miami. Christian Coleman has broken 10.10 once in four races. Until five days ago, a high schooler, Tate Taylor, was the US leader at 9.92.

Meanwhile, Bednarek has been cleaning up in Grand Slam Track, sweeping the 100 and 200 at each of the first two meets. His 19.84 200 in Miramar still stands as the world leader, and his 9.79 100 would be as well if not for the +2.4 wind.

Time to panic about the rest of US sprinting? Hardly. We’re not even in June yet. One or two Americans will pop off at NCAAs next week (now is the time to invest in Jordan Anthony stock) and the pros know that we’re still two months away from USAs and three and a half months out from Worlds.

So this weekend’s meet will be a test to see whether Bednarek is still the guy to beat or if Coleman or 19-year-old Christian Miller, in his first year as a pro, have closed the gap at all. Both Coleman and Miller are 100m specialists, so don’t expect them to touch Bednarek in Saturday’s 200. Sunday’s 100 should be a better race between the men who finished 2nd (Bednarek), 4th (Coleman), and 5th (Miller) in last year’s Olympic Trials final.

4) Men’s 110H/100: The two fastest men in 2025 square off

110H: Saturday, 6:13 p.m. ET 100: Sunday, 4:09 p.m. ET

Despite the news that Diamond League champ Sasha Zhoya is a scratch, the men’s 110 hurdles field in Philadelphia is still sensational. The headline matchup is between Americans Cordell Tinch, who just moved to #4 on the world all-time list thanks to his 12.87 in Keqiao, and Trey Cunningham, who tied his pb with a 13.00 to win the last Grand Slam in Miramar. With Grant Holloway absent from the scene right now — he has withdrawn from his last two races after getting beaten in Xiamen on April 26 — Tinch and Cunningham are the two hottest hurdlers in the world right now.

Olympic silver medalist Daniel Roberts, 2025 world #4 Freddie Crittenden (13.09 sb), and 2024 European champ Lorenzo Simonelli of Italy provide some very solid depth.

3) Women’s 800/1500: Addy Wiley, Georgia Hunter Bell, & Nia Akins join as Challengers

1500: Saturday, 6:00 p.m. ET 800: Sunday, 3:59 p.m. ET

The women’s short distance group has provided some great racing in the first two Slams.  Nikki Hiltz, in particular, has benefited from the non-paced format, and though Hiltz has yet to win a Slam, they (Hiltz is female but identifies as non-binary and prefers the they/them pronouns) have been very competitive in all four individual races. In addition to Racers Hiltz, Diribe Welteji, Jessica Hull, and Mary Moraa, the Philadelphia Slam has some intriguing Challengers in the form of Addy Wiley and Georgia Hunter Bell, both of whom are dangerous in both the 800 and 1500, as well as US 800 champ Nia Akins.

Saturday’s 1500 will be Bell’s first outdoor race of the year and she may want a little revenge after finishing in 3rd directly behind Hull at last summer’s Olympics and Welteji at World Indoors in March. In all, we’ve got the women who finished 2nd (Hull), 3rd (Bell), 4th (Welteji), and 7th (Hiltz) in Paris last year, which should make this one of the most competitive 1500s of the year (though obviously Faith Kipyegon, currently preparing for her sub-4:00 mile attempt, is missing).

Meanwhile the 800 provides a great matchup with last year’s US champion Akins and last year’s fastest American Wiley taking on reigning world champ Mary Moraa. After fizzling out at the end of 2024 and leaving the Brooks Beasts, Akins started slowly in 2025 but won USA Indoors and looked competitive at World Indoors before an unfortunate fall in the semifinals. As a Penn alum now based in Philadelphia, Akins will also have home-track advantage.

Wiley is coming off an impressive race at the Rabat Diamond League on Sunday, finishing 3rd in 1:57.55 behind Olympic silver medalist Tsige Duguma and World Indoor champ Prudence Sekgodiso. Moraa has not looked close to her best yet in 2025, but she is coming off a win in the 800 at the last Grand Slam a month ago.

2) Men’s 3,000: Graham Blanks & Nico Young take on Grant Fisher

3000: Sunday, 4:27 p.m. ET

At the first two Grand Slam meets, the first men’s distance race of the weekend went very slowly and ended with a big kick: the winning times were 14:39 (Kingston 5,000) and 8:17 (Miramar 3,000). Don’t expect that to happen in Philadelphia, where the first race is the only race after GST scrapped the 5,000 from the program.

Kevin Morris photo

That’s because Grant Fisher, who has been the alpha of this event through two meets, was outkicked by Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran in the 3,000 in Miramar and will know better to allow Coscoran, who is back as a Challenger, to hang around in a slow race on Sunday in a one-race format. Fisher may not go from the gun — he likes to go sometime between 1600 and 1000 meters to go — but he will go at some point.

Can anyone in this field hang with Fisher? No one even tried to go with him in Miramar, but there are a few US Olympians in this field who wouldn’t mind a hard move from a mile to go in Graham Blanks and Nico Young. Young was very impressive this winter — remember, he ran 12:51 indoors for 5,000, which is #2 ever by an American indoors or out, and that was after missing some training when a dog ripped up his quad. Fisher, of course, ran a world indoor record of 12:44 in February and Fisher’s 7:22 pb for 3,000 is also a world indoor record and #4 on the all-conditions list. But I’ve been told Young is in monster shape right now, so it will be interesting to see whether he can mount any sort of challenge.

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Unfortunately, the man best-suited to challenge Fisher, Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrihwet, the second-fastest 5,000m man in history, is out for the second meet in a row due to personal matters. But with Fisher, Blanks, Young, and Sam Gilman, who finished a surprising 4th at World Indoors in the 3k, this race features a number of America’s top distance men.

1) Men’s 800/1500: A big test for Josh Hoey, and can Hobbs Kessler halt 0-10 skids against Cole Hocker & Yared Nuguse?

800: Saturday, 4:57 p.m. ET 1500: Sunday, 5:01 p.m. ET

The Grand Slam regulars of Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, and Yared Nuguse mean that the 1500 is always going to be a highlight of any Slam. But this meet also has some intriguing American challengers in Josh Hoey and Hobbs Kessler, who will be looking to show they can hang with the world’s best after impressive indoor seasons.

Let’s start with the 800, since it comes first for the first time in Philly. Hoey is the guy to watch here. After running a pb of 1:44.12 for 4th at last year’s Olympic Trials, Hoey has just kept improving, running 1:43.80 last summer after the Trials and getting down to 1:43.24 during the 2025 indoor season, winning US and World Indoor titles in the process. His coach, Justin Rinaldi, told LetsRun he believed Hoey was in 1:41 shape at World Indoors.

Now Hoey, a Pennsylvania native, gets a chance to go up against a real, live 1:41 guy in Olympic silver medalist Marco Arop. Hoey has already beaten Arop once this spring, though it’s not worth reading too much into that given it was a road mile at adidas HQ (Hoey ran 3:59 for 7th compared to Arop’s 4:04 for 10th).

Hoey, who ran 3:33 this indoor season, could also factor in the 1500, where he’ll be up against four of the top five from last year’s Olympic final. And while the race will be a big test of Hoey’s 1500 ability (and whether he could eventually become a two-event athlete), it represents an even bigger test for Hobbs Kessler.

Kessler was 3rd at World Indoors last year and 5th at the Olympics — a great season for a 21-year-old. But Kessler wants to be the best in the world, and he was still 1.65 seconds away from the podium in Paris. Moreover, he is 0-10 lifetime against Hocker, 0-10 against Nuguse, and 0-1 against Kerr. That’s a little unfair on Kessler given he was still a teenager for some of those races, but Hocker (23) and Nuguse (25) aren’t going anywhere. Kessler, who won the 1500 and 3,000 at USA Indoors, was only .27 behind Nuguse when they raced the mile at Millrose in February and it took a world record to beat him. Is he ready to finally earn his first win over America’s best 1500 guys in Philadelphia?