Arabic version: جونسون يقول إن رياضيي «غراند سلام تراك» تلقوا مستحقاتهم

According to BBC News, Michael Johnson has said athletes who competed in the bankrupt Grand Slam Track competition have now been paid. The four-time Olympic champion was speaking publicly for the first time since the series filed for bankruptcy in the United States in December 2025.

Grand Slam Track, founded by Johnson in 2024, promised contracted runners lucrative prize money and salaries during its inaugural season last year. Its final planned event in Los Angeles was cancelled. Several prominent athletes, including British former world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and 2024 Olympic 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith, had been owed more than £100,000.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Johnson said he had “got the athletes paid” after investors pulled out, creating what he described as a “catastrophic capital issue”. The Association of Athletics Managers, which represents several competitors, said in January that Grand Slam Track had debts of more than $30m (£22.5m).

A March 2026 legal filing by Grand Slam Track creditors accused Johnson of “secretly” paying himself $500,000 (£375,000) shortly before the season collapsed. A GST representative called that allegation “unfounded and false” at the time. Johnson told the Telegraph the money was reimbursement after he used his personal credit card for travel arrangements, and said he had loaned the company $2m and decided to forgo his salary.

Johnson said the claims had weighed heavily on him and his family. He had said in March that he would repay the $500,000. Johnson has been a BBC pundit and commentator since 2001, but has not worked for the broadcaster since the Paris 2024 Olympics while focusing on Grand Slam Track.