Michael Johnson’s GST promised salaries, appearance fees, and prize money, but it soon ran into financial trouble. After its final LA meet was canceled, the league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with court documents showing around $40 million owed to more than 300 creditors. A year later, Johnson claimed, “Everybody’s been paid.” That claim, however, has now drawn an uncertain response from one of the league’s biggest names.

Olympic silver medalist Matt Hudson-Smith was listed among the creditors in the January bankruptcy filing, with court documents showing that the British 400-meter star was owed $147,500. But when asked about Johnson’s recent comments on August 9, as shared by ESPN ahead of the European Championships in Birmingham, Hudson-Smith could not confirm that he had received the money.

“I’m going to be real, I have a memory like a fish, so I can’t remember what’s going on,” Hudson-Smith said at a press conference. The two-time European champion then made his position even clearer. “This whole year, I’ve been just focused on Europeans. Grand Slam, I don’t know if I’ve been paid, to be honest with you, and you can quote that,” he said.

Hudson-Smith’s comments came after Johnson spoke to The Telegraph about the league’s financial problems. Johnson said he had spent the past year working to find solutions for the athletes and had raised $11 million to cover their payments. However, a note attached to the interview stated that some of the money was still being held in escrow and was in the process of being distributed.

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Hudson-Smith was not an ordinary player on the Grand Slam Track. He was one of the league’s top players and had been dedicated to Johnson’s new series even before it began in 2025. He made his debut in April with the first Kingston Slam in Jamaica, and emerged as the first men’s long-sprinter champ in the Grand Slam Track.

He crossed the finish line in 20.77 seconds in the 200m and 400m to collect enough points to secure the overall long-sprints championship as well as a $100,000 winner’s prize.  His early success also made him one of the faces of the new league, and he spoke positively about the concept while encouraging other athletes who were still unsure about joining.

But the financial problems soon changed the picture. Hudson-Smith had already spoken about the situation before his latest comments. In June 2026, he said he still believed Grand Slam Track was a good idea but acknowledged the frustration surrounding the unpaid money. He explained that athletes had committed themselves to the series expecting the promised payments and hoped the league would keep its side of the agreement.

“You put your eggs in one basket, and you hope that Grand Slam would keep their end of the bargain,” Hudson-Smith said. But the question now is why Grand Slam Track was not able to pay their athletes in the first place.

Grand Slam Track’s $40M debt crisis leaves top athletes waiting for millions

In August 2025, the financial difficulties in the league were made public and Michael Johnson admitted to his problems of paying out to athletes at Grand Slam Track around $13 million in prize money and appearances. The financial situation proved to be even worse than first reported in the bankruptcy filings. In January 2026, the total debts of Grand Slam Track were $40.68 million, whereas its assets were only worth $831,385. The list of creditors included 340 people, including athletes, vendors, and other businesses.

A significant amount of the athletes’ earnings had yet to be returned. By early 2026, they owed approximately $7 million together, and about half of the payments they got were not paid to them. In December 2025, Grand Slam Track filed for bankruptcy, and in february 2026 offered to pay approximately $6 million to athletes, which amounts to about 85% of the $7M that was still owed. Other creditors such as vendors were likely to get back a much smaller fraction.

The 340 creditors listed in the bankruptcy filing were not all athletes. The figure included companies and other businesses owed money by the league. Still, dozens of prominent track and field stars appeared on the list, including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Kenny Bednarek, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Marileidy Paulino, with several athletes owed five- and six-figure amounts.

The figures paint a clear picture of how severe the financial crisis had become. At the heart of the problem was a funding shortfall. Johnson had expected outside investment to help finance the league, but some of that funding did not come through. With the league also facing the costs of staging events and paying contracted athletes, its cash position quickly became difficult to sustain.