By Chris Chavez
October 22, 2024
400m Olympic champion and World champion Marileidy Paulino has signed with Grand Slam Track ahead of the professional track league’s inaugural season in 2025.
Here’s what you need to know:
– Paulino is coming off an undefeated season in which she also became the first Dominican woman to win an Olympic gold in any sport. At the Paris Olympics, she shattered the Olympic record in 48.17 to move to No. 4 on the all-time list. She also won the Diamond League title and five other Diamond League series meets.
– Paulino will be a Racer in the “long sprints” category that will contest the 200m and 400m at each of the four Slams. Each competitor will receive points for their finishing position in the two races. After the two events, the athlete with the highest point total will win the Slam and the $100,000 prize for first place.
– Paulino owns a personal best of 22.36 for 200m from June 2022. She is the reigning Pan American Games champion.
Justin Britton / @justinbritton
What She Had To Say About Signing With The League:
Paulino said via press release: “For me, it’s about making my country proud and continuing to raise the bar. Grand Slam Track is a new chapter for me, and I’m ready to keep showing what hard work and heart can do. This is a great opportunity for us as athletes to continue to make our sport shine on a global stage.”
Who Could Paulino Face In Grand Slam Track?
Paulino is the first Grand Slam Track Racer in the “long sprints” category. Throughout the 2024 season, Paulino faced off against the likes of Salwa Eid Naser, Natalia Kaczmarek, Alexis Homles, Amber Anning, Nickisha Pryce, Lieke Klaver, and Rhasidat Adeleke on the Diamond League circuit, and prevailed. All of them, though 400m specialists like Paulino, are also formidable candidates to fill the three other Racer spots since they can also run the 200m.
How Paulino fares in the 200m is what’s compelling about her addition to the league. Paulino has not raced a strong 200m field since before the COVID-19 pandemic and has focused more on the 400m since. If the league can land 200m Olympic champion Gabby Thomas (who also boasts a 49.68 PB for 400m), we’ll get to see the 200m and 400m Olympic champions racing against one another four times per year – fans will be closely paying tabs to the points standings and finishing order in each race to see who comes away with the $100,000 grand prize at each respective Slam.
Kevin Morris / @KevMoFoto
Paulino vs. McLaughlin-Levrone Possibility
CITIUS MAG has dubbed the Racers who have the versatility to compete across more than one Grand Slam Track event group as “unicorns.” 400m hurdles world record holder and Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone could primarily race in the “long hurdles” group that races the 400m and 400m hurdles at each Slam but she also has the talent to contend in the “long sprints category” thanks to her 22.07 personal best for 200m and her 48.74 personal best for 400m. If coach Bobby Kersee sees a better fit to race in the 200m/400m group at a Slam, we’d get a Paulino vs. McLaughlin-Levrone showdown – which has only happened once before (2023 Paris Diamond League).
At last month’s Brussels Diamond League, McLaughlin-Levrone was ineligible to compete in the Diamond League final event. Organizers set up an extra race in the meet schedule to allow her to race after they had already announced her participation in the meet. In cold and rainy conditions, she won her race in 49.11. Moments later, Paulino claimed the Diamond League trophy with a 49.45 victory, which left fans wondering what might have transpired had they raced head-to-head.
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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Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.
