By Paul Hof-Mahoney
October 22, 2024
Grand Slam Track has signed Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards to its inaugural 2025 season, meaning the top four finishers from the legendary 2024 Olympic 400m final will be Racers for the new league in the long sprints category.
Here’s what you need to know:
- The entire 400m Olympic podium, consisting of Quincy Hall, Matthew Hudson-Smith, and Muzala Samukonga, have been announced as signees over the last month. With Richards’s signing, it means that the top four will be going head-to-head over four 200m and 400m races in the Grand Slam season.
- Richards has one of the most impressive 200m-400m resumes in history by personal bests, which currently sit at 19.80 for 200m and 43.78 (16th all-time) for a full lap. He has two global titles to his name: 4x400m World champ in 2017 and 400m World Indoor champ in 2022.
- Richards has made three global finals in the 200m, with his best finish coming in London 2017, where he won bronze. His first global final in the outdoor 400m was August in Paris, where he recorded the fastest time by a fourth-place finisher in history.
- Richards via press release: “Every race is a chance to tell a story about where I’ve come from and where I’m going. Grand Slam Track is the perfect platform for that. It’s not just about winning; it’s about showing the world my journey, one race at a time. I’m delighted to be able to represent Trinidad and Tobago in Grand Slam Track, and I look forward to showing the world what I’ve got.”
What these Slams will look like:
Commissioner Michael Johnson’s selling pitch for Grand Slam Track is “only the fastest,” and the former world record holder got the four fastest 400m runners of 2024 (and four of the 16 fastest in history) signed onto his league in what would have been Johnson’s signature category. The scoring at each Slam will be decided by combining the finishing points from both the 200m and the 400m. While Richards does have the slowest 400m PB of the four, he is the only Racer in this category to have broken the 20-second barrier for 200m (granted, Hall hasn’t raced a 200m since he was 16 years old).
Here are the head-to-head records of the four Racers over 400m:
- Quincy Hall: 2-2 vs. Hudson-Smith, 1-2 vs. Samukonga, 2-1 vs. Richards
- Matthew Hudson-Smith: 2-2 vs. Hall, 2-3 vs. Samukonga, 3-0 vs. Richards
- Muzala Samukonga: 2-1 vs. Hall, 3-2 vs. Hudson-Smith, 2-0 vs. Richards
- Jereem Richards: 1-2 vs. Hall, 0-3 vs. Hudson-Smith, 0-2 vs. Samukonga
None of them have ever met over 200m.
Who Else Has Signed With Grand Slam Track So Far:
– Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (June 18th)
– Josh Kerr (June 27th)
– Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse (Sept. 4th)
– Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek (Sept. 12th)
– Melissa Jefferson (Sept. 19th)
– Masai Russell, Cyrena Samba Mayela and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Sept. 25th)
– Alison Dos Santos and Clément Ducos (Sept. 26th)
– Muzala Samukonga (Sept. 26th)
– Quincy Hall and Matthew Hudson-Smith (Oct. 10th)
– Nikki Hiltz (Oct. 15th)
– Grant Fisher and Ronald Kwemoi (Oct. 15th)
– Luis Grijalva (Oct. 22)
– Jessica Hull (Oct. 22)
– Marileidy Paulino (Oct. 22)
– Shamier Little, Jasmine Jones and Rushell Clayton (Oct. 22)
– Marco Arop (Oct. 22)
– Devon Allen and Daniel Roberts (Oct. 22)
– Jereem Richards (Oct. 22)
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Paul Hof-Mahoney
Paul is currently a student at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and is incredibly excited to be making his way into the track and field scene. He loves getting the opportunity to showcase the fascinating storylines that build up year-over-year across all events (but especially the throws).
