'You are Cooked' - Rai Benjamin Makes Bold Claim About Major Issue With Grand Slam Track
)
&format=webp)
American sprinter and hurdler Rai Benjamin has criticised the timing of Grand Slam Track after its inaugural first leg.
The four-leg championship made it's debut in Kingston, Jamaica early this month but the 27-year-old thinks the competition will have a physical toll on the athletes in the long-term.
"If you run a 100m, you are cooked for the rest of the season," Benjamin told Essentially Sports.
&format=webp)
The American grabbed a 400m silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and is the second fastest man in history in the 400m hurdles with a personal best time of 46.17seconds.
The Olympian leveled criticisms against the track meet on grounds of long-term profitability as well.
&format=webp)
Benjamin, who also won silver medals and at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022 in the men's 400m hurdles, tore into the Grand Slam Track’s premise that top athletes will always show up, no matter what.
“Having a track meet under the premise that the best is always going to compete against the best and they’re getting paid to show up, that doesn’t matter when your shit hurts, bro,” he stated..
&format=webp)
Grand Slam Track ill Timing?
&format=webp)
He zeroed in on the ill-timed scheduling—early-season meets in April, when athletes are still shaking off training niggles or recovering from grueling winter sessions.
“When your shit hurts in April and you’re like, ‘Is this a good idea for me to go get on a plane and travel all the way here just to run because I signed on the dotted line?’”
Benjamin added that athletes risk getting injured just because they have to honour a contract.
Benjamin is an avid cyclist, frequently cycling around Los Angeles and to and from hurdling practice at UCLA. He co-hosts a podcast called Beyond the Records with Noah Lyles and Grant Holloway, which was launched in December 2024.