Leading athletes still waiting on large sums owed by ill-fated Grand Slam Track

Grand Slam Track athletes have still only received 50% of their earnings nearly 15 months on from the collapse of Michael Johnson’s ill-fated venture.

Many of the Grand Slam stars are at the Ultimate Championships here in Budapest, where they will compete for a $10m prize fund, the richest in the sport’s history, with first prizes of $150,000 for individual events.

However four leading agents have told the Guardian that their athletes are still waiting on large sums of money from GST, despite Johnson claiming last month that he had “got the athletes paid”.

Johnson, a four-time Olympic champion and BBC pundit, launched GST in April last year, with the promise to revolutionise the sport with huge prizes and salaries. But it collapsed after only three events, before organisers voluntarily filed for bankruptcy in the US in December.

Athletes ended up receiving half their earnings last October, but have not had anything since. Their agents are hopeful that they will receive another sum in the region of 25% from an escrow account in the next month or two.

Vendors, meanwhile, have so far only received 14% of what they have owed.

A spokesperson for Johnson said: “Over the last year Michael has worked to ensure athletes who competed in GST were paid what they were owed. Against all odds, he secured funding to do just that. Athletes received half of what they were owed in October 2025.

“In May of this year GST paid the remaining funds owed to athletes into an escrow account to guarantee they would be received by athletes. GST, as per the bankruptcy plan voted on by the creditors [including the athletes], is not involved in distributing the funds to athletes. Our understanding is that distribution of payments is in process.”

“A process controlled by Force10 partners under the guidelines and supervision of the bankruptcy court. Michael understands the significant interest in this situation and chose the bankruptcy process specifically for its transparency.”

Several high-profile athletes are understood to still be owed payments in excess of £100,000, including British former world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and world 400m champion Sydney McLaughlin-Nevrone.

Meanwhile World Athletics president Sebastian Coe recently pointed out the differences between the Ultimate Championship and GST. “Where would you like me to start?” said Coe. “We have a business. We have a fully-funded business plan. And I can guarantee you the athletes will be paid on time.”