Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone dominates at Grand Slam Track – AW

The double Olympic champion starts her season in some style after backing up her 400m hurdles win with victory in the flat 400m

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has laid down an early marker this season after convincingly winning both of her races at the inaugural Grand Slam Track in Kingston, Jamaica (April 4-6).

Much attention was paid to the double Olympic 400m hurdles champion and world record-holder ahead of the event, given she was the first athlete to sign up to Grand Slam Track last June and has become a figurehead for Michael Johnson’s new professional track league.

In typical McLaughlin-Levrone style, she duly delivered. After running 52.76 to win the 400m hurdles on Friday – the fastest time by a female athlete in the discipline in April – the 25-year-old returned on Sunday to ease to victory over the flat 400m.

McLaughlin-Levrone, from lane six, made her intentions clear from the off and had already made up the stagger by the half-way stage of the race. From then on it was a procession, with the American coming through in 50.32 to become the women’s Long Hurdles champion.

In her post-race interview, McLaughlin-Levrone stated that she and her team have talked about her taking on the Short Sprints (100m/100m hurdles) in Philadelphia and then the Long Sprints (200m/400m) in Los Angeles.

One of the other headline races on Sunday came in the men’s 800m as Emmanuel Wanyonyi, a day after he took down the entire Olympic 1500m podium from Paris in their own event, sealed his win in the men’s Short Distance group.

The Olympic 800m champion, this time running in his favoured event, clocked 1:46.44 for second and placed behind Marco Arop, who claimed the silver medal behind the Kenyan in the French capital last summer.

Arop ran 1:45.13 for his win in Kingston and both 800m specialists, as well as Bryce Hoppel, were well ahead of those who have starred over 1500m in recent years.

Neil Gourley and Cole Hocker were fourth and fifth in 1:47.84 and 1:48.02 respectively, Yared Nuguse placed sixth with 1:48.16 and Mohamed Attaoui and Josh Kerr finished seventh and eighth in 1:48.44 and 1:50.68.

Grant Fisher just about did enough to become the men’s Long Distance group champion and take home the top prize of $100,000, beating Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet by just one point across both the 3000m and 5000m.

After his victory over 12 and a half laps on Friday, Fisher knew that he could afford to potentially place second or third in the 3000m and still take home the crown overall.

The 3000m, in the end, turned out to be two different races incorporated into one. Gebrhiwet and his compatriot Telahun Haile Bekele started superbly and went through 800m in 2:03.90, establishing a large gap to the rest of the field.

Gebrhiwet would go on to front run the race and took the win in 7:51.55, taking his total to 17 points. That meant that Fisher had to place third in the 3000m to secure an outright victory across both distance disciplines.

Coming down the home straight the American was fifth but produced a sensational kick, reminiscent of what he did at the Paris Olympics, to take third spot.

Fisher clocked 8:03.85 and with 12 points from the 5000m and six points in the 3000m, totalled 18 points overall.

One of the most dominant performances of the entire Kingston Slam came in the women’s Short Sprints as Melissa Jefferson-Wooden took home the maximum 24 points on offer with victories in both the 100m and 200m.

The American opened her 2025 season with a smooth 11.11 win in the 100m and, even though she hadn’t competed in a single 200m in 2024, took the victory over half a lap with 23.46.

Jenna Prandini, who came in as a late Challenger in the Short Sprints group, was both second in the 200m and overall.

Sasha Zhoya, last year’s Diamond League 110m hurdles champion, backed up that accolade by winning the men’s Short Hurdles group at the Kingston Slam.

The Australian-born French athlete had finished second to American Dylan Beard in Friday’s 110m hurdles but turned on the heat in the flat 100m, securing a convincing victory in 10.55.

Beard, the Millrose 60m hurdles champion who is currently unsponsored and works at Walmart in Atlanta, was third in the 100m in 10.67. That was enough for second place overall and $50,000.

With the third and final Kingston Grand Slam session taking place in the afternoon, compared to a later start on Friday and Saturday, temperatures in Jamaica peaked around the 31C mark. The sultry conditions, combined with the wind, made it especially tricky for the distance runners, with the women’s 5000m being the longest event on the Sunday.

Just three tenths of a second separated Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye and Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich in the 3000m on Friday – the pair clocked 8:28.42 and 8:28.75 respectively – and the battle to win the 5000m was between them as well.

Ngetich – the 2023 world individual cross-country bronze medallist – established a gap of two seconds just before the half-way mark but, as the pace slowed, Taye caught up and the duo matched each other’s pace until the last lap.

Taye, the world 10,000m bronze medallist from Budapest, was the one who took the initiative and kicked with 300m to go, going on to claim victory in 14:54.88, with Ngetich second in 14:59.80.

As a result, with a total of 24 points from the 3000m and 5000m, Taye became the women’s Long Distance champion.

Alison dos Santos took the full 24 points on offer to dominate the men’s Long Hurdles group. After a convincing victory in his favoured 400m hurdles on Friday, the Brazilian was forced to work much harder for his win in the flat 400m.

In tough windy conditions, the 2022 world 400m hurdles champion reeled his competitors in down the home straight and clocked 45.52, edging out American Chris Robinson who ran 45.54.

Danielle Williams won the women’s Short Hurdles crown after running 11.54 to win the 100m on home soil. The Jamaican placed second to American Tia Jones in the 110m hurdles yesterday but picked up the full 12 points in the flat 100m, totalling 20 points overall.

Winners of the Kingston Slam groups: 

Men’s Short Sprints (100m/200m) – Kenny Bednarek 

Women’s Short Sprints (100m/200m) – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden

Men’s Long Sprints (200m/400m) – Matthew Hudson-Smith 

Women’s Long Sprints (200m/400m) – Gabby Thomas 

Men’s Short Hurdles (110m hurdles/100m) – Sasha Zhoya 

Women’s Short Hurdles (100m hurdles/100m) – Danielle Williams

Men’s Long Hurdles (400m hurdles/400m) – Alison dos Santos

Women’s Long Hurdles (400m hurdles/400m) – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Men’s Short Distance (800m/1500m) – Emmanuel Wanyonyi

Women’s Short Distance (800m/1500m) – Diribe Welteji

Men’s Long Distance (3000m/5000m) – Grant Fisher

Women’s Long Distance (3000m/5000m) – Ejgayehu Taye

Full results here.

» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here