Gabby Thomas explains how Grand Slam Track can tackle two major issues in track and field

American track athlete Gabby Thomas has explained the issues that Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track league can fix in the sport. Thomas has already signed with the league that is set to debut next month in Jamaica.

Johnson's league is one of the very first of its kind in the discipline. It has a big prize pool and has also brought several top broadcasters on board. Johnson shed light on the magnitude of change that this league can bring to the sport.

During a recent conversation, Thomas said that despite the large interest in track and field among the masses, there isn't a regular league around the year that fans can watch, which GST strives to fulfill.

Additionally, the 200m Olympic champion also stated that GST's contract with its racers ensures that athletes would compete in the designated meets, which is better from a fan perspective. Thomas said (via A Touch More With Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, 20:41 onwards):

"I mean the interest is there, people are tuning in, they know who we are and they want to watch and track is so simple, everyone can understand it. It's just such a perfect fan experience so why isn't there a simple place for people to go watch it if they want to watch it."

"The other issue that Grand Slam definitely fixes is athletes showing up to compete, I think one of the barriers in our sport is where we don't have a structure where we're mandated to run. Grand Slam kind of ensures that we're contracted to run, we're going to be there and we're going to show up."

Gabby Thomas' counterpart during the interview, Nikki Hiltz, has also been roped in by Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track league and will be competing in the middle distance events of the league.

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Gabby Thomas on payment process in track and field

Thomas at The Sportico House in Texas during an event (Image via: Getty Images)

Gabby Thomas recently opened up about the payment process in the circuit of track and field. This came during the 200m Olympic champion's appearance on the "Your Rich BFF" podcast.

Thomas revealed that the payments from the track events come to the bank accounts several months after the event is concluded. She said (via Your Rich BFF, 43:00 onwards):

"People don't know in our sport, it is normalized to not receive your payment for like six eight months after the job. You race in January and you might not see the money until next January."

During the conversation, Gabby Thomas also slated that the payment gets credited all of a sudden and mentioned handling and managing all these payments can get very difficult due to this delay.