Category: Track and field

Grand Slam Track announced on Friday that two-time Olympic 100-meter gold Fred Kerley would not be participating in this weekend’s first U.S.-based event in Miami due to his arrest. Kerley was set to run in the 100m on Saturday and the 200m on Sunday. Kerley won silver in the same distance at the 2020 Tokyo Games and bronze in the 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Last night, Fred Kerley was taken into custody. All questions should be sent to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office as the situation is still being investigated,” Grand Slam Track stated in a statement. “This weekend, Fred won’t be competing. Right now, we have nothing else to say. Kerley’s representative has been contacted by Reuters for comment. When Reuters called the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, they did not immediately offer information about Kerley’s arrest.

According to media sources, the 29-year-old Kerley was charged with touch or strike battery during an altercation at the meet hotel and there was no deadline for his release. Kerley raced in Grand Slam Track’s inaugural competition last month in Kingston, Jamaica. Grand Slam Track was founded by four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson and will host four competitions in 2025. The Diamond League, which has long been the global leader in the sport and holds 15 tournaments annually in locales ranging from Xiamen to Zurich, faces direct competition from the circuit.

 

 

The Grand Slam Track (GST) Miami Slam, the second stop in the league’s inaugural season, is shaping up to be a must-watch event this weekend at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida. Among the headliners are Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Jamaica’s rising star Ackera Nugent, both expected to dominate the women’s hurdle events.

 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is the undisputed queen of the 400m hurdles. After setting the world record of 50.37 seconds at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she opened her 2025 season at the Kingston Slam with an emphatic win, clocking 52.76 seconds. Her smooth stride pattern and technical precision make her nearly unbeatable when in form. As the GST format requires athletes to compete in two events per meet, McLaughlin-Levrone’s versatility and stamina give her a competitive edge. In Miami, she is favored to take the 400m hurdles again and continue her march toward the GST season crown and a share of the $12.6 million prize pool.

 

Meanwhile, Ackera Nugent is quickly making a name for herself in the 100m hurdles. The 22-year-old Jamaican set a national record of 12.24 seconds at the Rome Diamond League last year, placing her among the fastest women in the event’s history. At the Kingston Slam, she finished fourth in the 100m hurdles with 12.75 seconds but bounced back with a runner-up finish in the 100m sprint. These performances earned her 13 points and $30,000 in prize money. Now, Nugent looks to climb higher in Miami and potentially upset the current 100m hurdles leader, Tia Jones, who won Kingston in 12.63 seconds.

 

The GST league, founded by four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, has brought a fresh energy to track and field. With a compact schedule, consistent prize money, and top-tier athletes committed to competing at each meet, the league aims to give fans regular access to elite-level competition. McLaughlin-Levrone and Nugent’s presence is part of what makes this format so compelling—stars competing head-to-head multiple times in a season, something traditional athletics circuits rarely deliver.

 

In Miami, fans can expect a fast track, electric atmosphere, and plenty of fireworks from the women’s hurdle events. McLaughlin-Levrone will look to lower her season-best, while Nugent seeks to convert her raw speed and improving technique into victory. Both athletes represent the present and future of hurdling, and their performances this weekend could shape the narrative for the rest of the GST season.

 

With top-level talent, large crowds, and a new league format, the Miami Slam is poised to deliver. All eyes will be on Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Ackera Nugent as they aim not only for wins but also for dominance in a new era of professional track and field.

 

 

Nigeria’s Favour Ofili will make her long-anticipated debut at the Grand Slam Track league today, as she lines up against a star-studded field in the women’s 100m and 200m at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

 

Ofili is set to contest the second leg of the series launched by four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson. The Nigerian sprint sensation will compete in both the 100m and 200m events as part of the women’s short sprints group, with the 100m race scheduled for Friday, 2 May, at 11:52 pm Nigerian time and the 200m event set for midnight on Sunday.

 

This appearance marks Ofili’s first outing in the Grand Slam Track, a league hailed as the first truly professional series for track athletes. The competition brings together 96 of the world’s top talents across a three-day face-off, with a $100,000 top prize on offer in each event.

 

Ofili will be the first full-blooded Nigerian to feature in the Grand Slam Track league, following her withdrawal from the opening leg in Kingston, Jamaica earlier this month.

 

The 200m national record holder enters the weekend off the back of an encouraging performance at the Tom Jones Invitational in Florida, where she opened her season with a time of 22.34 seconds (+0.2) in the 200m to finish second behind Saint Lucian Olympic champion Julien Alfred, who clocked a blistering 21.88s. American sprinter Tamari Davis finished third in 22.37s.

 

 

In Miramar, Ofili will face a lineup that includes Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas, Great Britain’s Daryll Neita, American sprinters Brittany Brown, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Tamari Davis, Jacious Sears and Kayla White. Thomas, who competed in the 200m and 400m at the Kingston leg, is expected to be the favourite, having dropped down to the short sprint category this weekend.

 

League Commissioner Michael Johnson said the event is designed to give athletes more opportunities to compete at the highest level. “Grand Slam Track is the first truly professional track league for track athletes,” he told US Local 10 News. “As opposed to these athletes having to wait every four years for an opportunity to show that they’re the best and compete against the best, we do it four times a year.”

 

He added that the format compels athletes to test themselves beyond their usual distances, creating more exciting matchups.

 

“Melissa’s the best 100-metre runner out there, but then she’s got to come over and run the 200, which is her secondary event,” Johnson said. “She may be running against people for whom the 200 is their primary event like this weekend.”

 

 

 

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Keely Hodgkinson. Photo. Imago

Keely Hodgkinson explains why the Diamond League prepared her for glory at the Paris Olympic Games.

Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson will receive a hero’s welcome when she returns to the London Stadium to race over 800m at the London Athletics Meet on July 19.

 

Delivering a typically fearless performance, the 23-year-old made history at the 2024 event with a meeting record, national record and personal best of 1:54.61, moving her from tenth up to sixth on the world all-time rankings according to Athletics Weekly.

 

It was the perfect preparation for Paris where she went on to win Olympic gold, adding to a fast-growing CV that also includes Olympic silver from Tokyo 2021, four senior European titles and two World Championship silver medals.

 

Asafa Powell and 4 Other Legendary Sprinters Who Never Won Olympic Gold

Asafa Powell and 4 Other Legendary Sprinters Who Never Won Olympic Gold

“I remember after last year’s race thinking, ‘Can we do that all over again?’,” said the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

 

“It was such a dream to compete in the Olympic stadium and I’m so excited to get back out there and see what I can do.

 

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Eliud Kipchoge Net Worth: Age, Career, Accolades, Family Life, Wife And How Rich He Is In 2025?

“For me, that race really set me up for what I did in Paris. I’m now an Olympic champion which is a pretty amazing thing to say out loud, but I still haven’t won world gold, so I have really big goals this summer.

 

“Having that crowd behind me in London, plus a bunch of super-quick ladies to race against, will be the best possible preparation as I build towards the World Championships in Tokyo.”

 

The London Athletics Meet – the world’s biggest one-day athletics event – is the 11th meeting of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League.

 

Gout Gout Speaks Highly of South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza

Gout Gout Speaks Highly of South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza

The series, which will pay out a record total of $9.24 million in prize money, comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field across four different continents, starting with Xiamen and concluding with a single final across two days in Zurich on August 27-28.

 

This year’s London Athletics Meet is the fastest selling in the event’s history and is on track to sell out in record time with over 57,000 tickets sold already.

 

Donovan Bailey expects SFP, Jackson to challenge for World Champs medals

After a less than ideal 2024 season for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, Jamaican-born Olympic and World Championship gold medallist Donovan Bailey says he’s optimistic that the Jamaican sprint duo will challenge for medals at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, this September.

 

Fraser-Pryce and Jackson struggled with injuries last year, which saw both being unable to vie for medals at the Paris Olympic Games last summer. However, the pair have returned to competition since the start of the year ahead of a lengthy athletics calendar.

 

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Thirty-eight-year-old sprint legend Fraser-Pryce, in her first race since the heats of the 100m in Paris last August, clocked a wind-aided 10.94 seconds at the Velocity Fest meet at the National Stadium on April 19.

 

It was the earliest start to the season for the five-time 100m world champion since 2021 and the first time in two years where her season started more than two months before a major championship.

 

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The three-time Olympic gold medallist, who played down retirement talk to the Jamaica Observer, is also set to compete at the World Relays in China next week, after being named in Jamaica’s 4x100m squad.

 

Former world record holder Bailey, who won the 100m Olympic gold in 1996 and took the 100m world title in 1995 while representing Canada, says he’s impressed by Fraser-Pryce’s start to the season and is expecting great things.

 

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“The excitement and energy of inviting probably the greatest female sprinter ever back to the track and healthy, that’s way more important. The fact that she went out, raced, executed and ran sub-11, that’s all good. I don’t care what the wind was, that doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

 

“The fact she went out and executed simply means that if this is her last season as a track and field athlete, it means that there’s zero chance in hell that she’s just going to go out and not challenge for a medal so this is great. I’m glad that she’s back on the track, opening up in front of her home audience, injury free from what I understand because I spoke to a bunch of sources so I’m happy to see her back,” Bailey added.

 

Two-time 200m champion Jackson, whose 2024 season ended at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial meet in Hungary last July, opened her season in January in the 60m at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson Invitational Meet at the National Stadium where she clocked 7.18 seconds.

 

Since then, Jackson has gone on to compete in four more races, including last Saturday’s Diamond League in Xiamen, China where she ran her first 200m race of the season, clocking 22.79 seconds to finish second behind America’s Anavia Battle 22.41 seconds. It’s the slowest time in her 200m opener since February 2021 where she also clocked 22.79 at the GC Foster College.

 

Despite Jackson not winning the event, Bailey says he’s not bothered and believes she should use these races as opportunities to prepare for the World Championships.

 

“From my personal career, the Diamond League is the business part of track and field. You come out, get a great appearance and if you lose one or two, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the season. I think that every single one of these ladies or the men competing, should always use the Diamond League to fix things.

 

“So [whether] Shericka wins or loses is not going to make a difference to me or make a difference in her season. The number one thing is executing right and remaining healthy. I want to see her at her best in the finals at the World Championships at the end of the season, that’s what I personally what I want to see,” said Bailey.

 

As the reigning champion, Jackson has a bye for the 200m at this year’s World Championships but will have to compete in the 100m, along with Fraser-Pryce, at the National Senior Championships in July.

 

 

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (right) hands off the baton to teammate Shericka Jackson in the final of the women’s 4x100m relay during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on August 6, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

 

 

 

 

Aussie sprint sensation Gout Gout won’t be taking part in the men’s team events at the World Athletics Relays in May, with the 17-year-old star seemingly being managed ahead of his showdown with Noah Lyles later this year. Gout will officially represent Australia at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September after earning a call-up for the 200m event.

 

However, Athletics Australia have opted not to name Gout in either the 4x100m or 4x400m events next month in China in a move that could be designed to slowly introduce him to men’s open competition. Other than his favourite 200m event, Gout has not raced in open competition, with the 17-year-old still competing in his age group.

 

Gout Gout alongside Aussie athletics teammates.

Gout Gout (L) won’t compete at the World Relay championships, but the Aussies have a very strong squad led by Torrie Lewis (second from right). Image: Getty More

Despite the competition, Gout is still sending shockwaves around the world with his performances. Gout sent a message to 200m world champion Lyles earlier this year when he bettered the American’s best run.

 

 

He also recorded the fastest under-18 400m time for an Australian in 35 years. Gout clocked 46.20 seconds in the 400m at the Joanna Stone Shield meet in Brisbane, which was almost a second under Lyles’ personal best for the distance. Gout’s personal best for the 100m remains 10.17 seconds, despite going under the 10-second mark twice in Perth earlier this month. Both those times were wind-assisted and did not count as an official time.

 

Gout Gout won’t compete at World Relays event

Athletics Australia announced its squads for the World Relays event on Tuesday – a mini world championships that only includes relay races. With Australia sending a team for the 4x100m event, many would expect Gout to get a run.

 

 

And while there has been no official word as to why he hasn’t been picked, Athletics Australia could be managing the 17-year-old who isn’t accustomed to competing in the men’s open field just yet. Australia named their relay teams to compete at the championships in May, with points on offer for the World Athletics Championships later this year. Australia will compete in all six events for the first first time – 4x100m for men and women, 4x400m for men and women, and mixed 4×100 and 4×400 – which highlights the strength of the current track athletes around the country.

 

Australian record-holder Torrie Lewis will lead the women’s 4x100m relay team. Lewis won the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne after holding off 17-year-old rising star Leah O’Brien and Bree Rizzo in a three-way photo-finish. And Aussie male sprint star Lachlan Kennedy will lead the Aussie men’s 100m relay.

 

“I’m feeling really confident for this team, we can definitely qualify for Tokyo. The camps we’ve had as part of the relay program have been really great this year,” Kennedy said in an Australian Athletics press release. “The rivalry between us all as individual sprinters is still there within camps and we all still compete with each other, but we all want to be the best at World Relays.”

 

Gout Gout celebrates after the race.

Gout Gout (pictured) won’t feature for Australia at the World Athletics Relays.

Gout Gout set for showdown with Noah Lyles

Kennedy will lead Australia in the 100m relay having recorded the fastest time of 10.03. He has also been named to represent Australia in the 100 at the world championships. Gout has already set his sight on his first event wearing Australian colours as he will set-up a showdown with world champion Lyles.

 

 

Gout became a national sensation when he broke Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian 200m record late last year. The 17-year-old clocked in at 20.04 seconds – a time faster than what Usain Bolt ran at the same age (20.13).

 

In a twist, Kennedy actually upstaged Gout last month in the men’s 200m at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne. Despite being upstaged, Gout is already making a name for himself overseas having trained with Lyles.

 

Noah Lyles ahead of his race at the Olympics.

Gout Gout will have the opportunity to go up against Noah Lyles (pictured) at the World Athletics Championships later this year.

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Meanwhile, the Victorian Athletics president has told Wide World of Sports they are interested in enticing stars such as Sha’Carri Richardson or Lyles to the event next year. President Matt McDonough told the publication some local backers are interested in bringing over the likes of Richardson or Lyles to the race after the success of 2025. But he also claimed Gout’s influence in bringing in large crowds this year could be the star power they need.

 

 

“There are a couple of people angling in that space … There are a few influential people that have some backing that suggested they’re going to try to see what they can do. There’s plenty of people around with money to support that,” McDonough said.

 

“Someone might say, ‘Look, we can spend half a million to get Noah Lyles’, and he might not come for that. “Who knows? By the time we get to next year Gout could be just as big as Noah Lyles. So are we better off just spending a bit more money to ensure Gout comes back, rather than getting Noah Lyles?”

 

 

 

 

Emmanuel Wanyonyi may be the second fastest 800m runner of all-time but he feels David Rudisha’s world record is still far from him despite being just a few seconds away.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi has been knocking on the door of the world 800m record but despite being just a few seconds away, he believes that it is still too far away.

 

Wanyonyi, the Olympics 800m champion, holds the second fastest time in history after running an astonishing 1:41.11 at the Lausanne Diamond League in August 2024, tying with Kenyan-born Dane Wilson Kipketer.

 

That time is just a few seconds shy of the world record of 1:40.91 held by another Kenyan David Rudisha, who broke it at the 2012 London Olympics, but the 20-year-old is shrugging off any talks of lowering that time this year.

 

“My main aim this season is to run a new personal best time. I am not thinking about the world record because this is not something that you just wake up and say you will go run the world record,” Wanyonyi told Telecomasia.net.

 

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“You have to internalize it, prepare well and execute well. I respect Rudisha’s record a lot because before he broke it, he lowered his PB almost five times and for me, it has happened once and I cannot talk of going for the world record.”

 

It has been a meteoric rise for the world 800m silver medalist, who clocked 1:41.70 at the Kenya Olympics trials last June, before 1:41.58 at the Paris Diamond League a month later, and he would go on to win Olympics gold in an improved time of 1:41.19, before his current mark just two weeks later in Lausanne.

 

Even with those remarkable numbers, Wanyonyi is opting to take one step at a time and is looking at winning his first world title at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September, before he can entertain any talks of a world record.

 

“That [world title] is what I am working on this season and my entire preparation has been focused on that. I missed out on Budapest [in 2023] because I lacked experience and I was still young but now I have learnt some lessons and I am motivated to go for the world title,” said Wanyonyi, who will be 21 in September.

 

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“Preparation has gone on okay and my build up has started really well. My target is to go on well, injury free until September, then I will fight for the world crown.”

 

Few will bet against Wanyonyi winning the world title given his recent form and how he has started the 2025 season like a house on fire, winning the inaugural Grand Slam Track leg in Kingston early in April, having also done well in 1,500m, at Athletics Kenya Weekend Meetings back home.

 

The three-time Olympic gold medalist sprinter crushes off the track as well in her latest fit.

 

Team USA Red athlete Gabby Thomas (7083) walks the track ahead of the 1600 meter relay invitational at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Saturday,

Team USA Red athlete Gabby Thomas (7083) walks the track ahead of the 1600 meter relay invitational at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Saturday, March 29, 2025. / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman

 

Gabby Thomas is in full beast mode for track season. She’s been crushing it, even winning a $100K and busting a move with a dance on the podium. Now, she’s taking a quick break from the track to get in glam selfie in a fire fit.

 

The 28-year-old has had quite an amazing past year from winning three gold medal in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, to appearing on ESPN’s College GameDay, to being the Grand Marshal of the NYC Marathon, to getting engaged to longtime boyfriend Spencer McManes with a giant rock she’s been flaunting. Even WNBA star Angel Reese was swooning over Thomas.

 

Thomas put in some serious work in the offseason training. / Gabby Thomas/Instagram

As track season started, Thomas crushed her relay back on the Texas Longhorns track while wearing a can’t-miss neon track suit, and then won the first-ever Grand Slam Track event in Kingston, Jamaica, where she won that big prize.

 

 

Gabby Thomas/Instagram

With the season in full swing, Thomas showed off again off the track where she was back with a fit fire in her shoestring polka-dot top on all glammed out.

 

Thomas has said she wants to compete in 2028 in the Los Angeles Olympics. She will no doubt be one of the faces of the Games should she choose to.

 

 

 

 

 

“If the support system don’t change, my kids not running for Jamaica.” These were the insider details that came out from the mouth of a Jamaican veteran recently.

 

The same Jamaica that is known as a sprint factory. And it just didn’t sit well with many. While the viral video of Asafa Powell’s son winning a race led Jamaicans to think that the future of the sport looks in good hands, the perspective from the legend himself shook the track and field world. Powell stood his ground about the lack of support and the thin money in the sport. What’s next? Fans bashed him for ‘complaining’ too much, and a controversy was born. But the same fans are now rallying behind him. So what changed?

 

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Well, Asafa Powell was absolutely honest in his stand, “I got just country pride and all that stuff. I’ve never gotten anything from the country.” The track and field veteran says he ran for free all his life, and that’s not something he wants his kids to do now. He even went as far as saying that he was offered millions of US dollars in 2006 to run for a different country, but he had turned that down.

 

In retrospect, that looks like a missed opportunity to him now. Well, the man seems to have only loved his nation, but the voids? He has to call them out for them to be fixed. Another track and field legend has now voiced a similar stance, though. In a YouTube video aired by Television Jamaica on April 25, Usain Bolt’s former coach, Glen Mills, made remarks that, “There needs to be a structure through which, um, athletes who qualify, um, are able to apply for some kind of grantorial.”

 

 

 

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He suggests that some of the track and field governing bodies, like the SDF and others to come, come together to form a system of criteria. He said, “We are not a very rich country; our resources are stretched and the expectations can be greater than what we can afford, but, um, I think that if we create a structure and an athlete can see what is available within this structure, it will, um, give them the option.”

 

 

Which Jamaican track and field legend recently voiced concerns about the lack of financial support for athletes in Jamaica?

 

Mills also cited that attention has never really been given to creating a sort of stability in the support that is given to athletes. “We have not done well in marketing our resources…” he says, as Jamaica is one of the nations that produces some of the best sprinters at the highest level. So if they could market well, they could also get some good money to set up a program.

 

Now this is something that sounds very close to what Asafa Powell had mentioned. He had cited recently that, “No athlete wants to retire and go work 9-5 or sit down struggling and wondering what’s next. We all want to have a good life afterward; money should work for us when we retire.” He’d called for a better support system, and a somewhat similar idea is now backed by Mills. Thus, there are Jamaican fans who are coming out in Powell’s support, too.

 

Track and field community backs Asafa Powell’s stand

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“At least Asafa opens up discussions on this issue. Much needed. 😮” Looking at how veterans are now reacting to and jumping into this debate, fans are feeling that Powell’s comments acted as a probable wake-up call for Jamaican track and field. It has stirred discussion on this topic, in the hope that it may lead to something better for the Jamaican track!

 

Another one chimed in with, “Big up Asafa For speaking you’re Truth and Exposed Jamaica Corruption in Track & Field🔥” Well, previously, another Jamaican sprinter, Yohan Blake, revealed that so many athletes who have won medals for Jamaica had to go back to poverty after retirement. “Other countries have asked me if I could go run for them…if I was running for a different country, I could have retired at 25 or 21,” he said, which suggests the same lack of financial support that Powell now points out.

 

 

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However, it’s not just the track and field veteran in him. Fans also feel that Powell said what he did from a parent’s point of view. “All parents want the best for their children. Asafa knows his experience and doesn’t want the same for his children.” So, yes, a humanitarian perspective of just a father looking out for his children is something that many fans seem to be considering here.

 

But that’s not the end of it. Another track and field fan tried decoding Powell’s words further: “You know what? I realize the problem wasn’t the message but the messenger. I stood and still stand with Asafa. He said nothing wrong. Maybe he didn’t say enough. Nonetheless, most of the people who are bashing him for speaking up never even walked a mile as an athlete, much less run in their shoes.”

 

It may have been Powell’s poorly timed statement that triggered this reaction. Even Glen Mills stated that maybe Powell’s words could have made more impact while he was running. But at the end of his career, it might be interpreted differently. However, many believe that only track and field athletes truly know what it feels like to be in their shoes.

 

 

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A fan put an end to it, saying, “I said it before and I’ll say it again: who feels it knows, Safa is free to say if things don’t change in track and field, he’s not letting his kids run for Jamaica. So what about it? Talk yu talk Safa , as Jamaican, we love to cover up the facts too much. Safa said it when it was suppose to be said . People were saying his son form is perfect at a young age when he compete at his sports day , and his future looks bright in Athletics, so Safa responded. Big up Safa .❤ “

 

What do you think of this? Do you agree that track and field veterans like Asafa Powell and Glen Mills are starting a much-needed discussion? Let us know below!

 

 

 

Gout Gout clocks 19.84 in scintillating Perth run

More than a decade has passed since the Stawell Gift last attracted a sprint superstar from overseas, but some locals with deep pockets are “angling” to entice one of Noah Lyles or Sha’Carri Richardson for next year’s edition, according to the Victorian Athletic League president.

 

Wide World of Sports can also reveal local businessman Sandy McGregor has committed $150,000 to support Gout Gout over the coming months — and that sum of cash is in addition to the $50,000 he paid the 17-year-old Queensland sprint sensation to run at this year’s Stawell Gift.

 

McGregor, the majority owner of the racehorse that won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, will support Gout as he heads overseas with his camp to race in Europe and Japan this year.

 

 

The Ipswich product will contest the 200 metres at the Czech Republic’s Ostrava Golden Spike meet taking place on June 25 (AEST), as well as one other yet-to-be-revealed race on the same trip.

 

“He’s exciting, he deserves it [the funding], and we’re all hoping he gets to Europe and performs the way he’s been performing in Australia,” McGregor told Wide World of Sports.

 

Noah Lyles celebrates winning the men’s 100 metres at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

US megastar Noah Lyles celebrates winning the men’s 100 metres at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“It’s an ongoing sponsorship to support team Gout. Originally, I put money towards the district first and Gout second, and now that it was a success [at the Stawell Gift], he deserves a bit more support until he gets himself more firmly entrenched in the system.”

 

McGregor has no official ties to either the Stawell Gift or the Victorian Athletic League (VAL), which runs Australia’s oldest and richest footrace, but he wanted Gout to run on the grass of Central Park this year because he’s passionate about the area thriving.

 

Gout and the event’s other major drawcard, fellow Queenslander Lachlan Kennedy, were both bundled out in the semi-finals of the men’s 120m.

 

Their early exits led to some sections of the mainstream media levelling scathing criticism at the handicapper, but Kennedy’s coach and the VAL president both rubbished that criticism.

 

Regardless, the impact Gout had on the country Victoria event was immense.

 

WWOS understands all three days of this year’s Stawell Gift drew a crowd that doubled usual daily attendances.

 

“They made a lot of money, the crowd was big and the town deserved it. So it’s good,” McGregor said.

 

“It will give it a kick along.”

 

Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States pictured at Paris 2024.

Sha’Carri Richardson of the US pictured at Paris 2024. Getty

McGregor said he wasn’t considering making a pitch for Lyles or Richardson, but VAL president Matt McDonough said some wealthy locals had indicated their interest.

 

Lyles is the reigning Olympic gold medallist in the men’s 100m, while Richardson is the defending world champion in the women’s 100m.

 

“There are a couple of people angling in that space … There are a few influential people that have some backing that suggested they’re going to try to see what they can do. There’s plenty of people around with money to support that,” McDonough told WWOS.

 

“Someone might say, ‘Look, we can spend half a million to get Noah Lyles’, and he might not come for that.

 

Gout Gout waves to the crowd after bowing out in the semi-finals of the men’s 120 metres.

Gout Gout waves to the crowd after bowing out in the semi-finals of the men’s 120 metres at the Stawell Gift. Getty

“Who knows? By the time we get to next year Gout could be just as big as Noah Lyles. So are we better off just spending a bit more money to ensure Gout comes back, rather than getting Noah Lyles?”

 

Linford Christie, Kim Collins and Asafa Powell are among the superstars who’ve travelled from overseas to run at the Stawell Gift, which this year marked its 143rd year.

 

“Stawell hasn’t had the big international star for a long time … We haven’t had that for 10-15 years,” McDonough said.

 

“We’d be interested, the VAL, and I’m sure Stawell would. We would be super excited to have any of the international superstars come along, like on

e of those big-name Americans, to take on Gout.”