Justin Gatlin makes his feelings about Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track featuring Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Former Olympic champion and sprinting legend Justin Gatlin is in awe of the Grand Slam Track League. The track extravaganza, conceptualized by former sprinting legend Michael Johnson, was inaugurated a couple of weeks ago at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.

Gatlin recently talked about his thoughts regarding the lineup for the Grand Slam Track League. He compared the event to a Diamond League final. In the conversation shared on the Instagram page of the Grand Slam Track League, Gatlin said,

"Look at the lineup, every event is stacked..... This is looking like a Diamond League finals, World Championship finals, Olympic finals, but it's happening over and over and over again. High talent. High competition."

Previously, Gatlin commented on Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone's Grand Slam Track opener on his podcast channel 'Ready, Set, Go'. Gatlin spoke about McLaughlin-Levrone's dominance on the track. In his words,

“It'd be hard. It'd be very, very difficult to bet against Sydney, especially in her premiere event or any other event that she steps into. Because Sydney is the kind of person, like she's just not going to throw herself into a competition. She's going to do her research. She's going to train for it."

Justin Gatlin also admired McLaughlin-Levrone for her touching tribute to fellow teammate and former world record holder in women's 400m hurdles, Dalilah Muhammad. The 35-year-old athlete had announced that the current season would be her last.

---

Justin Gatlin shares his thoughts on the Grand Slam Track League's concept

Justin Gatlin talks about the Grand Slam Track League [Image Source : Getty]

Michael Johnson's much-talked-about Grand Slam Track League has left the audience divided. While most are in favor of the same, some believe that the league should not be just limited to the track events.

However, Justin Gatlin has a different approach. He supported the concept of the league and suggested that the organizers take notes from existing tournaments such as the Diamond League. In one of his episodes on the podcast channel "Ready Set Go", Gatlin said,

“I think it's gonna be really good for the sport. For exposure, for making money, it's a whole another level, a whole another step. To me it's like a combination of the Diamond League and the Golden League all put together in one. He (Johnson) took the good parts from all these different leagues and now he's made a league that's more superior.” [0:16 onwards]

Justin Gatlin has been one of the most remarkable American sprinters of all time. He had won the Olympic gold medal in the men's 100m event at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and it wasn't until the quadrennial event at Paris that another American sprinter [Noah Lyles] managed to emulate that feat.