Once more, Paris Olympic gold medal winner Marileidy Paulino showed her elite class when she clocked in first in the 400 and 200 meter races in the Grand Slam athletics meet in Miami, Florida. She takes home US$100,000 in cash prize money for each win.
In 2024, Paulino was the queen of the 400. In 2025, she has added 200m races, too. In the Miami race, she clocked in first at 22.30, a new national record for the Dominican Republic, and her own personal best.
Right behind her was Salw Eid Naser, competing for Bahrein, and who has the peculiarity of being coached by Dominican Jose Ludwig Rubio, the same coach who delivered the DR’s 200 meter silver medalist in London 2012 Olympics, Luguelin Santos. Coming in third, was US runner Isabella Whittaker, who clocked 22.76.
On Friday, 2 May 2025, in the same tournament, Paulino clocked in at 49.21 in the 400m, to win first place. Coming up from behind her again was her now arch-rival Nasser, who stopped the clock at 49.33.
This was the first year of the Miami Grand Slam started by United States legendary Michael Johnson to elevate the athletics’ global footprint. The four-time US Olympian Johnson launched the Grand Slam Track to usher in a new era of professional track for the estimated track and field global fanbase of 2.5 billion people worldwide.
The athletics races were the first of four annual Slams planned for spring and summer season in four global cities. Three more Slams are scheduled to take place over the summer months.
As planned by the Grand Slam Track organizers, each year, 48 athletes will be named to the league as GST Racers. These racers are selected by the Grand Slam Track Racing Committee based on a combination of factors to include the fastest and best racers in each race group, with a focus on fierce rivalries and thrilling competitive racing. GST Racers commit to racing in all four Slams per year. They will receive an annual base compensation for racing in each Slam and are eligible for full prize money. These GST Racers will receive annual contracts, access to the GST content and data services team, inclusion in the league collective, group licensing and new revenue opportunities, plus access to world class athlete support services throughout the season. GST racers are compensated under contract to race and promote the league and receive additional marketing and branding support.
The remaining 48 racers will be known as GST Challengers and will be paid a set appearance fee to compete at individual Slams. GST Challengers are chosen by the Grand Slam Track Racing Committee based on a combination of factors including recent performances, and the most intriguing athletes and matchups.
Racers and Challengers are assigned to compete in one of the following categories, and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400H/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m). All competitors’ final placement score is to be determined by their combined finishing order between the two races. In the event of a tie across the two events, it will be the athlete who had the quickest combined time across the two races who will be deemed the winner.
The winner of each Slam group will take home US$100,000 in prize money, and the 8th place competitor will earn US$10,000. Grand Slam Track is estimated to raise US$12.6m of prize money that will be awarded across the slams each year in addition to the base compensation and appearance fees paid to racers.
Grand Slam creator Michael Johnson won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships across his career, and held world and Olympic records in both the 200m and 400m races. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Johnson became the first and only male athlete to win the Gold medal in both the 200m and 400m at the same Olympics. Since retiring from active competition, Johnson has become a serial entrepreneur and investor, as well as highly sought after performance mindset speaker and an award-winning television commentator. Johnson has been a pundit for the BBC’s coverage of every Olympics Games since Athens 2004, and remains a key voice on, and advocate for the sport. Johnson was inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004.
Read more in Spanish:
El Nacional
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
N Digital
Grand Slam Miami
6 May 2025