Women’s Short Sprints

(200m on Saturday at 5:16 p.m. | 100m on Sunday at 5:13 p.m.)

Racers: Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden

Challengers: Celera Barnes, Tamari Davis, Thelma Davies, Jenna Prandini, Dina Asher-Smith, Jadyn Mays

Gabby Thomas wants her revenge on this group. Although she won the 200m at the Miami Slam, she lost the title to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden by just one point due to a clutch third place finish in the 200m by the 100m Olympic bronze medalist. If all goes according to plan and Thomas moves back to the long sprints group in LA, this would be Thomas’s last shot at winning the short sprints title. Thomas will get an edge here if she’s able to win the 200m (she’s two-for-two in her Grand Slam 200m races, albeit in different race groups) and could get help from the fact that there are now two Challengers (Asher-Smith and Prandini) who have better 200m personal bests than Jefferson-Wooden to possibly take points away from her. Jefferson-Wooden is helping fulfill my pre-season prediction that she will discover some of her talent in the 200m this year.

Dina Asher-Smith got her first taste of Grand Slam Track in Kingston as a long sprints Challenger and finished fifth in the standings. We’ll see her first 100m of the season after her strength work has already paid dividends, to the tune of two personal bests over 400m this season. People may forget, but she was the runner-up at last year’s Diamond League final in the 100m.

Jadyn Mays is set to make her professional debut after wrapping up her NCAA eligibility at Oregon. During the Kingston Slam, Mays tweeted “i like that doubling concept a lot 🧘🏽‍♀️” and now will get to try her hand at it. She boasts personal bests of 11.01 (run at altitude in Boulder) for 100m and 22.19 for 200m.

Men’s Long Sprints

(400m on Saturday at 5:51 p.m. | 200m on Sunday at 4:52 p.m.)

Racers: Matthew Hudson-Smith, Muzala Samukonga, Steven Gardiner, Jereem Richards

Challengers: Jevaughn Powell, Alexander Ogando, Khaleb McRae, Matthew Boling

Jereem Richards was very impressive with a 19.86/44.32 showing in Miami. We’ll see how he follows that up, but also what the response will be from Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith and Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga after another month of training. Samukonga, in particular, is progressing in his first year of running the 200m and clocked a personal best of 20.23 while closing hard for third place in Miami. Hudson-Smith must be tired of not winning his main event, and with the 400m being first in Philadelphia, he’ll be fresh and trying to get out ahead with 12 points.

Note: We’re officially retiring the stat that “Steven Gardiner has been undefeated in all 400m races that he has finished since 2017” but we’re glad that he’s healthy enough to race again after a little injury scare in Miami. 

Women’s Long Sprints

(400m on Saturday at 5:42 p.m. | 200m on Sunday at 4:43 p.m.)

Racers: Nickisha Pryce, Alexis Holmes, Marileidy Paulino, Salwa Eid Naser

Challengers: Isabella Whittaker, Laviai Nielsen, Jessika Gbai, Sharlene Mawdsley

Marileidy Paulino got her swagger back in Miami by beating Salwa Eid Naser in the 400m and 200m—and managed to lower her Dominican national record in the 200m to 22.30 in the process. That duo going head-to-head never gets old. Paulino went back to 9–1 against Naser over 400m and is now 2–0 against her over 200m.

Isabella Whittaker returns to her former college stomping grounds after a quiet but super impressive third place showing in the Miami standings, which was both her outdoor opener and pro debut.

Men’s Short Hurdles

(110mH on Saturday at 6:13 p.m. | 100m on Sunday at 4:09 p.m.)

Racers: Freddie Crittenden, Sasha Zhoya, Daniel Roberts

Challengers: Trey Cunningham, Jakub Szymański, Lorenzo Simonelli, Cordell Tinch, Jamal Britt

Last time out, Trey Cunningham stole the show and backed up his talk about how well-suited for the league he was by sweeping the 100m (10.17 PB) and 110m hurdles (13.00 PB) races. However, it might be tougher to pull off the same thing in Philadelphia as we’ll see Cordell Tinch return to Grand Slam Track as a fellow Challenger. Tinch was third in the Kingston Slam standings but that was before he stunned many with a 12.87 to move to No. 4 on the all-time list just a month later in China.

2024 European 110m hurdles champion Lorenzo Simonelli is also an interesting Challenger to watch as he holds a 10.25 personal best for 100m but was part of the Italian 4x100m squad that claimed gold at last year’s European Championships.

Women’s Short Hurdles

(100mH on Saturday at 6:22 p.m. | 100m on Sunday at 4:18 p.m.)

Racers: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Ackera Nugent

Challengers: Danielle Williams, Ditaji Kambundji, Tia Jones, Christina Clemons, Tonea Marshall, Megan Tapper

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is stepping down in hurdle distance and making her professional 100m debut. Not that McLaughlin-Levrone is an athlete motivated by money, but you have to applaud her decision to leave the women’s long hurdles group (where she’s a perfect 4-for-4 in races) to take on the short hurdle specialists and risk losing out on the extra $100,000 awarded to the Racer of the Year for her dominance. However, a showdown against 100m hurdles Olympic champion Masai Russell will have to wait as the American record holder will miss Philadelphia due to injury.

McLaughlin-Levrone will have her hands full with two Slam champions. Danielle Williams, who claimed the Kingston Slam title, returns and has only improved since then. She won the Xiamen Diamond League in a season’s best of 12.53 and took second in 12.55 at the Keqiao Diamond League. Ackera Nugent took the Miami Slam title (narrowly by one point over Russell) thanks to a 11.09 run in the 100m to tie her personal best.

Tia Jones, who ran 12.19 for No. 3 on the all-time 100m hurdles list in Miami, is back for her third Slam. She has already pocketed $75,000 from the league as a Challenger with her runner-up finish in Kingston and then a fourth place showing in Miami. If she can continue to make some progress in the 100m, she’ll be more of a factor in the overall standings with this group.

Men’s Long Hurdles

(400mH on Saturday at 4:48 p.m. | 400m on Sunday at 3:41 p.m.)

Racers: Alison dos Santos, Clément Ducos, Caleb Dean

Challengers: Trevor Bassitt, Chris Robinson, CJ Allen, Assinie Wilson, Gerald Drummond

Alison dos Santos remains the man to beat in this group. He’s still a perfect four-for-four in Grand Slam Track races and only looked tougher to take on after setting a 44.53 personal best in the 400m in Miami. That’s a performance that would’ve had him fourth against the Long Sprints group.

Chris Robinson is heading into his third Slam as a Challenger and had a much better showing in Miami, with runner-up performances in both races. His best shot at winning the Slam title is to be as close as possible in the 400m hurdles to dos Santos and then pull off the win in the 400m because it could get down to a time tiebreaker if they trade off 1–2 finishes in races.

Caleb Dean went all-out in the 400m hurdles in Miami and burned out by the finish. He’s continued testing his limits and tactics in the event. One day it should stick and maybe there’s a better showing in Philadelphia in store for him. He finished third in the Kingston and Miami Slam standings.

Women’s Long Hurdles

(400mH on Saturday at 4:39 p.m. | 400m on Sunday at 3:50 p.m.)

Racers: Shamier Little, Rushell Clayton, Jasmine Jones

Challengers: Lina Nielsen, Dalilah Muhammad, Ayomide Folorunso, Anna Cockrell, Andrenette Knight

Before Kingston, I respectfully joked that the only way someone but Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone would win this group was if she moved to another event group. Now she’s dropped down to the Short Hurdles group. Out goes the Olympic champion and world record holder, in comes the Olympic silver medalist. Anna Cockrell steps in as a Challenger and has the skill set to win this whole thing. She had her fastest season opener over the 400m hurdles with a 53.84 in Baton Rouge on May 3rd and ran a 400m personal best of 52.44 last month in Gainesville—her first time contesting the event outdoors since 2021.

The league will get its first look at Jasmine Jones as a Racer after she missed the first two Slams due to injury. She was one of the biggest breakout stars in this event in 2024 with the NCAA Outdoor title and then the fourth place finish at the Paris Olympics. She has never run a flat 400m.

Dalilah Muhammad, who pocketed $50,000 from a runner-up finish and announced this would be her final season at the Kingston Slam, is back. Her only race since Jamaica was a 53.81 win and season’s best at altitude at the Botswana Grand Prix on April 12th.

Men’s Short Distance

(800m on Saturday at 4:57 p.m. | 1500m on Sunday at 5:01 p.m.)

Racers: Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, Marco Arop

Challengers: Hobbs Kessler, Josh Hoey, Elliot Giles, Samuel Chapple

As if this group couldn’t get more enticing, World Indoor 800m champion Josh Hoey and 2024 U.S. Olympian at 800m and 1500m Hobbs Kessler have entered as Challengers.

I love this event group so much, we’re going to unpack each of the athlete’s key storylines:

– Josh Kerr claimed the Miami Slam title with 16 points—the lowest winning total in the league’s brief history. How will he follow that up and what other progress has he made in the 800m? (Another good sign could be that his Brooks Beast teammate Brandon Miller just ran a personal best of 1:43.52 with a fourth place showing at the Rabat Diamond League last week.)

– Marco Arop has now put together back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Slam standings. Although he finished one spot lower in the race, the 3:35.95 personal best and sticking his nose in the Miami 1500m with 200m to go was notable. He’s getting better at the 1500m and that’s big for the point standings since he’s seemingly untouchable in the 800m so far.

– Yared Nuguse, on the flip side, is showing progress in the 800m. He quietly ran a personal best of 1:44.77 to take fourth in the Miami 800m. He’s had a pair of runner-up finishes in the 1500m and if he can channel that consistency into a victory, that’s probably a Slam title for the 1500m Olympic bronze medalist.

– Cole Hocker will look to put the sixth place standing finish from Miami behind him. Similar to Nuguse, the silver lining from Miami was coming away with a 1:45.13 personal best and if he can boost those two third place 1500m finishes to a win this time, he can win the whole weekend.

– None of the Racers have ever raced Hoey on the track but they’ve certainly taken note of the remarkable start to 2025 that he’s put together. Hoey, who went undefeated over 800m indoors and broke the American record in 1:43.24 (currently faster than his 1:43.80 outdoor PB), might be the guy who takes it to Arop in the 800m. Even if he finishes second to the Canadian, that’s eight points and a target on his back heading into the 1500m. Hocker, Kerr and Nuguse will have to strategize on how to beat him in their main event. But this is the same guy that ran 3:33.66 (also faster than his 3:38.63 outdoor PB) to beat Grant Fisher over 1500m indoors. Couple all of that with the home field advantage as a Pennsylvanian with probably a ton of friends and family in attendance, and Hoey may be the most dangerous man of the weekend.

– I’ll reiterate what I wrote about Kessler in my article from his Challenger announcement:

“Hobbs Kessler was another name that fans bandied around when the Grand Slam Track doubling model was announced for Racers. In 2024, Kessler was the only man in the whole world to make the Olympic semifinals in both the 800m and 1500m. Kessler was bounced in the 800m semis, but it came in his fifth round of racing just days after he finished fifth in the Olympic 1500m final. Just like Hoey, Kessler could be a threat for the Slam title in a variety of race scenarios.

[...] Kessler’s sharpness at this point in the season is a big unknown. He won the U.S. indoor 1500m and 3000m titles but opted to skip World Indoors. Some thought that signaled that he would jump into the early Grand Slam Track meets as a Challenger, but he’s just been training in Flagstaff and most recently ran 3:54.34 for the road mile (and lost to 800m Olympic champion and Kingston Slam winner Emmanuel Wanyonyi) at the adidas Road To Records event.”

– Elliot Giles has one of the best PB split lines of the group at 1:43.63/3:30.92. But this is his outdoor opener so the same question about race sharpness persists with him.

– This is a little bit of a ‘Welcome to the Big Leagues’ moment for European Indoor 800m Champion Samuel Chapple. He just opened up his outdoor season with a 1:46.58 in Zagreb last weekend.

Women’s Short Distance

(1500m on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. | 800m on Sunday at 3:59 p.m.)

Racers: Jess Hull, Nikki Hiltz, Diribe Welteji, Mary Moraa

Challengers: Georgia Hunter Bell, Nia Akins, Abbey Caldwell, Addy Wiley

This is also one of the more fun groups to watch this weekend since it now features 2/3rds of the Paris Olympic 1500m podium. (The only one missing is Olympic champion and world record holder Faith Kipyegon, who is preparing for her sub-four mile attempt in Paris next month.) Because of her 1:56.28/3:52.61 PBs, Georgia Hunter Bell would’ve been a great Racer all along, and she’s coming off a World Indoor silver in Nanjing in March. So now she’ll open up her outdoor season against a very strong field.

Jess Hull still has a 6–0 career head-to-head record advantage over Hunter Bell and Nikki Hiltz has put together back-to-back runner-up finishes in Kingston and Miami. They’re both fairly sharp right now and could be the key athletes to watch with the 1500m being first up. While Hunter Bell beat Dirbe Welteji at the Paris Olympics, the Ethiopian went 3–0 in their last three meetings including the World Indoor Championships.

Mary Moraa, who proved to be a non-factor in the 1500m in Miami, will likely make the 800m fast again. That’s maybe where U.S. Olympian and 2025 indoor national champion Nia Akins and Addy Wiley (who has already run 1:58.59 in Shanghai and 1:57.55 in Doha this season) could earn critical points, as well.

Men’s Long Distance

(3000m on Sunday at 4:27 p.m.)

Racers: Grant Fisher, Ronald Kwemoi, Hagos Gebrhiwet

Challengers: Graham Blanks, Nico Young, Ky Robinson, Edwin Kurgat, Andrew Coscoran

Now that this event group has dropped down to just one race, I fully expect it to be quicker than we saw in Kingston and Miami. Surely, these guys did not show up to jog and then get dusted by a fresh Grant Fisher (Also maybe an aggravated Fisher since his potential prize purse was just cut by $50,000?). Andrew Coscoran, who managed to avoid that fate in Miami, is back as a Challenger and will be just as dangerous if the race goes super slow.

Hagos Gebriwhet should be in better form than in Kingston since he’s part of an advertised 5000m world record attempt at the Oslo Diamond League two weeks from this meet.

While Olympic silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi has not looked like his 2024 self in these early races, Kenya’s hopes may rest in Edwin Kurgat, who has a respectable 7:28.53 personal best in the 3000m and was seventh at the Paris Olympics 5000m final.

Blanks is back in action for the first time since notching the World Championship qualifying standard in the 5000m in 26:57.30 at The Ten in March. He’s walking in Harvard’s commencement ceremonies on Thursday and then racing on Saturday. Nico Young will hit the track for the first time since running 12:51.56 in the 5000m at Boston University in March.

Women’s Long Distance

(3000m on Saturday at 5:25 p.m.)

Racers: Nozomi Tanaka, Tsige Gebreselama, Agnes Ngetich, Elise Cranny

Challengers: Ejgayehu Taye, Weini Kelati, Medina Eisa, Josette Andrews

Some of the Racers in this group like Nozomi Tanaka and Elise Cranny may have given a sigh of relief with the event group dropping down to just one race since they’ve been fairly distant in the Kingston and Miami contests due to Agnes Ngetich’s aggressive hammering from the start. With no need to conserve energy for the double, they could be a bit closer. You could also expect that Weini Kelati and Josette Andrews, who enter as Challengers, will stick their noses in it from the start.

Ngetich, who claimed the Miami title off the time tiebreaker against Hirut Meshesha, has been outkicked a few times so perhaps she changes it up in Philly. But she’s also up against Ejgayehu Taye, who swept the 5000m and 3000m in Kingston. Taye just ran 8:29.55 to finish fourth at the Rabat Diamond League last Friday.