The newly launched Grand Slam Track series has redefined both the sport and the financial reality of professional athletics.
Created by Olympic legend Michael Johnson, the four-leg series—held in Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles—offers athletes not just glory on the track, but serious money in the bank.
With a total prize pool of $12.6 million, each Grand Slam Track meet awards top finishers handsomely. First place brings in a whopping $100,000, with second through eighth earning between $50,000 and $10,000. Athletes can walk away with up to $400,000 in total if they sweep the series. The money that’s making a real difference in how track stars manage their careers.
But how do these athletes actually spend that prize money? Sprint queens Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden recently opened up about it during a light-hearted TikTok interview with Front Office Sports.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the reigning Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion, has had a standout season. She lit up the Miami Slam with a blistering 49.69 in the long hurdles and even tested her speed in the 100m hurdles in Philadelphia, where she clocked 12.70 for fifth place.
When asked what she did with her first $100,000 Grand Slam prize check, Sydney smiled and confessed:
“I haven’t spent it yet.”
No lavish splurges !
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, on the other hand, dominated in Philadelphia, dropping a world-leading 10.73 in the 100m and 21.99 in the 200m. That earned her another six-figure payday, but she’s not rushing to the mall either.
In the same TikTok clip, she joked:
“I keep saying I want a new car, but I still don’t know what I want yet.”
Pressed further on her financial plans, Melissa revealed a mature mindset:
“I’m gonna invest most of it , like literally, when I say most of it, I mean like 98.2 percent.”
