1500m World champion Josh Kerr has signed on as a Racer with Grand Slam Track for the inaugural season in 2025.

Here’s what you need to know:

– Kerr is the league’s second athlete after Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was announced at the league’s launch last week in Los Angeles.

– Kerr is currently the fastest miler in the world with his 3:45.34 victory at the Prefontaine Classic. He has yet to lose a race in 2024. During the 2024 indoor season, he broke the two-mile world record in 8:00.67 at the Millrose Games and won gold in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships.

– Grand Slam Track is set to debut in 2025 with four meets offering $100,000 to the athlete with the best-combined score based on placing over two races in three days. Kerr is one of 48 contracted athletes who will race at all four Slam events. There will be four Racers per Slam category. Kerr will likely run in the 800m/1500m category.

Here’s what they said:

Kerr: “Making this announcement today is incredibly exciting for me. Grand Slam Track is the future for this sport and I’m buzzing to be the first British Racer signed to the league. Getting to work with Michael, a great of the sport, is awesome. He wants to shake things up and change this game for the better. He has put us athletes at the forefront of all his decisions in creating the league. I can’t wait to get racing in the Slams and to put on a performance for all track fans around the world. I look forward to facing the best in the world four times a year.”

Commissioner Michael Johnson: “I am excited to announce Josh Kerr as a GST Racer, and add such a talented competitor to our roster. Josh will show the world his incredible speed at the Olympics this summer, but we already know he is one of the fastest men on this planet. We want to have a diverse, international roster of talent for our four Slams, and having Josh on board is a hugely important announcement for our league.”

What’s next:

– Kerr will race in the 800m at the British national championships. He will run the 1500m at the Paris Olympics, where he is arguably the gold medal favorite.

– Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic champion in the 1500m, has yet to sign or commit to participating in Grand Slam Track. His comments from the Prefontaine Classic pre-race press conference align with the league’s mission of pitting the best athletes against each other.

“We all feed off the engagement and enthusiasm, especially from the crowd and the media and everything – and if we’re only saving that for one race or two races of the season, the whole point vanishes,” Ingebrigtsen said.