SAMUKONGA SIGNS WITH GRAND SLAM TRACK

SAMUKONGA SIGNS WITH GRAND SLAM TRACK

By Felix Munyika

Zambia’s Olympic bronze medalist in the 400m, Muzala Samukonga, has signed with Grand Slam Track as a Racer in the professional track league’s inaugural season in 2025.

According to a report by Citius Mag [an American online sports magazine covering track and field], he is the first African athlete to sign with Grand Slam Track.

In Paris, Samukonga earned Zambia’s first Olympic track and field medal since Samuel Matete’s silver in the 400m hurdles at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

Samukonga finished the year with an Olympic bronze medal, a silver medal at the African Games in Ghana, a gold in the 4x400m relay at the African Games in Ghana, and a bronze medal at the 2024 African Senior Championships in the 4x400m in Cameroon. He also placed third in the Diamond League final and set a national record/personal best of 43.74 in the 400m. He is now No. 3 on the all-time African list. He will compete in the league’s “long sprints” category, which includes the 200m and 400m at each of the four Slams.

“Being a part of Grand Slam Track is an honor, and I will proudly represent my country of Zambia in this league. I’m excited to continue racing at a high level against great competition across all four Slams. As soon as I heard about GST, I wanted to be involved, and now I can look ahead to some great races next year. This project will allow us, as athletes, to showcase ourselves in many new ways, and that is a very enticing prospect,” Samukonga said.

He joins the likes of Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Masai Russell, Cyréna Samba-Mayela, and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, among other elite athletes.

Grand Slam Track is the new global league founded by legendary sprinter Michael Johnson. The league will host four annual Slams taking place between April and September, with eight Racers competing in one of 12 event groups. At the beginning of each season, four Racers per group make the starting roster to contest each Slam. The next four Racers in each group are the Challengers, whose recent performances unlock a lane to the most compelling head-to-head clashes on earth. Each athlete will compete twice over the course of the weekend with the best combined placing determining the Slam champion.

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