Olympic champions Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone have decided which event groups they will contest at Grand Slam Track: Philadelphia from May 30th to June 1st at Franklin Field. Thomas will stick with the short sprints, which means she’ll pull off the 100m and 200m. McLaughlin-Levrone, however, is dropping down to the short hurdles to race the 100m and 100m hurdles.

The Gabby Thomas Decision

Although Thomas won the women’s 200m in a season’s best of 21.95 during Saturday’s action in Miami, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden finished third in the race with a personal best of 22.15, which was good enough for her to take the Slam title by one point over Thomas. Thomas didn’t look too thrilled. And that’s great! While the $100,000 payday is nice, the Slam title also carries some weight. Thomas won the long sprints group in Kingston and will get her second shot at the short sprints crown in Philadelphia.

The Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Decision

McLaughlin-Levrone outlined this season plan in Kingston and has not strayed from it yet. She is currently sitting atop the overall season standings with 48 points and is the most dominant athlete thus far, which would award her an extra $100,000 at the end of the season. Knowing that McLaughlin-Levrone is one of the biggest stars in the sport and not likely motivated by money, you have to applaud her decision to drop down into events where she may not be the favorite.

In the 100m hurdles, she’s stepping into Olympic champion and freshly-minted American record holder Masai Russell’s territory. They have only raced each other once before. When McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own 400m hurdles world record in 51.41 at the 2022 U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Russell was sixth in that final. McLaughlin-Levrone’s 100m hurdles personal best is 12.65 from 2021. She’ll be looking for some familiar luck since she raced the event at Franklin Field in 2023 and won the 100m hurdles at the Penn Relays in 12.75.

This will also be McLaughlin-Levrone’s 100m debut as a professional. The lone 100m on her athletics profile is a windy 11.07 from an early-season meet in 2018 when she was a freshman at Kentucky. I asked sprints guru PJ Vazel if he happened to have any splits from McLaughlin-Levrone’s 22.07 from last year’s LA Grand Prix, where she beat Thomas, and unfortunately, there are none because they ran on the opposite straight and there is no 100m mark on the track for 200m race.

Looking Beyond Philadelphia

Thomas and McLaughlin have both mentioned targeting the long sprints in Los Angeles, which would instantly make for two of the best races of the year. How lucky would we be to get to watch the 200m Olympic champion (Thomas), 400m hurdles Olympic champion and second-fastest American of all-time in the flat 400m (McLaughlin-Levrone), the 400m World and Olympic champion (Marileidy Paulino), and the Olympic silver medalist and current world leader (Salwa Eid-Naser), all square off… twice?!

Witness these stars in action from May 30th to June 1st at Franklin Field. Tickets are on sale now at http://grandslamtrack.com/events. 🎟️