By Canadian Press

Canada’s Marco Arop wins short-distance title at Grand Slam Track stop

Jun 1, 2025 | 3:05 PM

PHILADELPHIA — Edmonton’s Marco Arop won the short-distance title at a Grand Slam Track event after finishing fourth in Sunday’s men’s 1,500-metre race.

Arop finished in a personal-best time of three minutes 35.38 seconds to take five points from the race.

He had 17 points altogether in the short distances after winning Saturday’s 800 metres. That was one point better than Britain’s Josh Kerr, who won the 1,500 in 3:34.44 but was fifth in the 800.

Arop, the Olympic silver medallist at the Paris Games, has won all three 800-metre Grand Slam races so far. He finished second overall in short distance at the first two stops on the circuit after finishing sixth and seventh in the 1,500.

Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., was fifth and Aaron Brown of Toronto was seventh in Sunday’s 100 metres to finish fourth and fifth respectively in the short sprint category.

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Grand Slam Track was started by American track and field legend Michael Johnson, and is in its inaugural season. The first event was in Kingston, Jamaica, the second in Miami, and the fourth and last one will be in Los Angeles June 27-29.

All competitors have to compete in two events and are split into categories — short sprints (100, 200), long sprints (200, 400), short hurdles (100 hurdles for women, 110 hurdles for men, 100 for both), long hurdles (400 hurdles, 400), short distance (800, 1,500), long distance (3,000, 5,000) — with a points system in place.

Winners get 12 points, second place gets eight points, third gets six points, fourth gets five points, fifth gets four points, sixth gets three points, seventh gets two points and eighth gets one point.

The athlete with the most points after competing in both races from each category is named the “Slam Champion” for their race group. The overall season leader in points for each race group will be recognized as “Racer of the Year.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2025.

The Canadian Press