Grand Slam Track, the running-focused athletics tour that debuted earlier this year, has been put on an indefinite hiatus due to the non-payment of athletes by its organizers.

The series, founded by Olympic legend Michael Johnson, began in April and had scheduled three further meets across May and June, but only ran two of those events before ending the campaign early, citing the need to prepare for the 2026 edition.

Now it seems that the 2026 will not be taking place unless significant debts relating to the payment of athletes are resolved.

In July, it was reported that Grand Slam Track owed as much as $13 million to athletes relating to both prize money (the series’ total prize pot stood at $12.6 million) and appearance fees, with some racers still owed six-figure fees, while other staff and vendors are also reportedly owed.

In a statement published on Friday (August 15), Johnson conceded: “We promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated. Yet, here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them."

Much of this has been attributed to the withdrawal of a prominent sponsor of the series that had committed significant funding before reneging on the agreement.

Johnson continued: “We were devastated when we learned we would not receive the funding committed to us. We worked tirelessly alongside our investors and board to find a quick solution to the problem.

“Due to our strong desire to make this right, as quickly as possible, we offered dated payment timelines and have been unable to meet them.

“We are putting systems and partnerships in place to make sure it never happens again,” he said, before confirming that the proposed 2026 Grand Slam Track campaign will not take place until all athletes from 2025 have been paid.

Despite the issues rearing their head before the 2025 campaign had finished, Grand Slam Track has nonetheless already struck commercial partnerships ahead of 2026, including with media company Sundial, which is the official commercial partner of the series.