The Michael Johnson-led Grand Slam Track has been warned by World Athletics that it may not be permitted to return in 2026 even if it pays off its huge debts.
Court documents released on Monday showed that the league, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, still owes some of the biggest names in track and field hundreds of thousands of dollars and creditors between $10m and $50m (£7.5m and £37.3m).
In October the athletes received 50% of what they were owed by GST for competing in Kingston, Miami and Philadelphia before financial difficulties forced it to cancel its final event in Los Angeles.
However the documents show that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the American 400m world champion, is still owed $356,250 (£265,576), while the Olympic 200m champion, Gabby Thomas, is still waiting to receive $249,375 (£185,900). Britain’s Josh Kerr, a world champion over 1500m in 2023, is owed $218,500 (£162,883).
Meanwhile Girraphic, a Wimbledon‑based broadcasting and advertising agency, is still yet to be paid $690,624 (£514,810).
The World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, said the problems of GST deeply concerned him. “Well, it’s not unalloyed joy is it?” he said. “We welcome innovation into the sport. We welcome fresh investment, but it has to be underpinned by a sustainable, solid financial model executed and delivered on behalf of the athletes.”
Asked whether World Athletics could stop Johnson’s plans to bring GST back in 2026, despite its precarious financial situation, Coe said he did not “want to get into the embers” of what might happen next.
But, pointedly, he added: “We create the calendar. We have to police the calendar. And we have to make sure that when there are fresh events, that they come to the table with the kind of credentials and assets that I talked about.
“Over the next few years, there are going to be lots of different and new things and I welcome that. But it has to be suffused in a realistic proposition that is fireproof. It’s got to be sustainable.”
Coe also insisted that the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, which will launch in Budapest in September 2026, would be a very different proposition.
“It’s a very, very big moment for us,” he said. “There’s no guarantee of success next year, but we’ve got teams that have been working at this now for three years and they will be working through Christmas to make sure that we don’t let the athletes down.
“In Budapest, we’ve got the biggest prize pot ever, and it’s a very different model.”
