PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, May 31–June 01 — Only one athlete has won 6 out of 6 Grand Slam Track races over the series’ first three meets. And, fittingly, he closed out the action Sunday with another dominant world-leading victory.
Kenny Bednarek, all smiles and speed with his trademark headband, dispatched the 100 field in 9.86 (0.8), a healthy 0.16 ahead of Jamaican Bryan Levell. The previous day, with chillier weather and a 0.0 wind, he was even more dominant. His 19.95 crushed by more than half a second a group led by Zharnel Hughes (20.50).
“I heard the track is slow, but clearly that’s a lie,” he said with a laugh. He also pointed out he was raised in Wisconsin, so cooler weather is hardly a deterrent.
As the Grand Slam’s format has benefited Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in starting to level up her 200 game to match that in the 100, so has it, Bednarek believes, helped him in the 100.
“I really need experience in the 100 meters and the Grand Slam has given me the opportunity to do that,” he said, “and the 200’s my thing, you know, so coming out here to win back-to-back-to-back… to-back-to-back-to-back… just builds a lot of confidence for the season.”
Short Hurdles: Talk about intrigue; the men’s 110 hurdles had it with challengers Trey Cunningham and Cordell Tinch meeting for the first time in ’25. Tinch was just 5th in the event in the Kingston Slam, before he heated up and ran his world-leading 12.87 at the Shanghai Diamond League. Cunningham, meanwhile, exploded to a PR-tying 13-flat at the Miami Slam.
Maybe they paid too much attention to each other, next to each other in lane 6 (Tinch) and 7 (Cunningham), because it was another challenger, Jamal Britt (lane 2), who clipped them both Saturday. Britt, who ran 13.10 for 4th in Miami, was fast and efficient all the way and snipped the line in 13.08 — just .01 off his PR — while Tinch (13.10) and Cunningham (13.18) settled for the next two spots.
Then when Britt sprinted 10.50 for 2nd Sunday behind Cunningham’s 10.36, he had the Slam title. “The past two weeks, I’ve been feeling a PR coming,” he said after his hurdle race.
Long Hurdles: Alison dos Santos came to Franklin Field tied with Bednarek in the Racer of the Year standings. While he couldn’t maintain the sub-48 form he’d shown in previous Slams, he had enough Saturday to clip Trevor Bassitt in the 400H, 48.12–48.25.
On Sunday, though, Bassitt had the better wheels, running 45.47 on the flat, with dos Santos getting edged for 2nd by Chris Robinson, 45.62–45.63. Perhaps no other athlete was more genuinely thrilled to be topping the podium.
“Like I said yesterday, I put myself in a good position… so I had to execute today and run to win, and I thought I did a good job of that,” he said, flushed with excitement after claiming the slam. “I’m really starting to come into form.”
Short Distances: Marcos Arop has stood out among the Racers in the short distance category as the one true 800 runner. Then, after crushing the field at that distance Saturday, he did just enough Sunday in the 1500 — with a dramatic move on the final lap — to hold on to 4th and earn his first slam.
In the two-lapper, as he has done in each Slam, the Canadian ran a race no one else was willing or able to run — even with world indoor champ Josh Hoey joining the fray. Arop led at 52.05 and turned back a challenge from Hoey at the bell, then powered away in the backstretch before anyone could gather themselves for a kick. He powered in at 1:43.38, more than a second clear of Hoey.
In Sunday’s 1500, after falling back too far too soon the day before, Cole Hocker went to the lead and took the field through moderate splits of 56.50 and 1:55.98. As he did in the 800, Hoey went for the lead to start the final lap and this time he got it. But with 300 to go, Arop went for broke in a bid to sweep the Slam.
Down the straight and around the curve, Arop held, but then he broke as Hocker found another gear and sashayed around him while Kerr came charging up from 6th. The Brit passed the Olympic champ in the final 20 meters for the 3:34.44 win, with Hobbs Kessler coming up for 3rd. But Arop held onto 4th with a PR 3:35.38 and the slam win by a single point.
“I like to make those moves,” said Arop of his big gambit. “I want to make the winning move in every race I’m in. I thought I had it today, but those guys are so strong. I’m really just happy to come out with the overall win.”
Long Distances: When two-time slam winner Grant Fisher scratched from the category’s now-sole race, the 3000, the event looked wide open. Six of the seven remaining were “Challengers” with Ronald Kwemoi (who would wind up 7th) the only “Racer.”
But Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran, who beat Fisher in the Miami 3K, was back and Nico Young, Graham Blanks and Ky Robinson were the trio of first-timers that created buzz.
After Kwemoi led for more than four pedestrian laps, Robinson took over at 2K (5:40.10) and upped the ante considerably, covering the next 800 in 1:55.08. No one was dropped and into the final curve, everyone was still within 0.40.
That was when Young launched a truly impressive finish, one which evoked memories of the overpowering kicks he displayed when he swept the NCAA Indoor 3K and 5K in ’24. The Northern Arizona grad’s last 200 was 25.62; the final kilo 2:20.67.
The next best finish belonged to another slam newbie, Sid Gilman, who snagged 2nd in 8:01.70.
Long Sprints: With Jacory Patterson — 43.98 in the Miami Slam — not joining in the fun in Philly, and Jereem Richards not showing quite the same blazing speed this week, the door was open for Matthew Hudson-Smith to get back to the top of the podium.
The Brit didn’t have to run as fast in Saturday’s 400 as he had four weeks earlier — 44.51 to 44.37 — but this time he was the only one who broke 45 on a day that probably felt like April in his home country. Challenger Khaleb McRae prevailed in a close battle for runner-up at 45.05.
Hudson-Smith was just 5th in the 200, at 20.70, but he edged 200 winner Alexander Ogando (20.13, but 6th in the 400) and Richards (3rd and 2nd) for the slam. “We’re really using the 200 to translate to the 400,” he said.
GST PHILADELPHIA MEN’S RESULTS
(¶=Slam winner; earned $100K. Long Distance winner ran one race, earned $50K).
Short Sprints
200(0.0): 1. ¶Kenny Bednarek (US) 19.95; 2. Zharnel Hughes (GB) 20.50; 3. Aaron Brown (Can) 20.50; 4. Andre De Grasse (Can) 20.58;
5. Bryan Levell (Jam) 20.63; 6. Christian Coleman (US) 20.66; 7. Udodi Onwuzurike (Ngr) 20.67; 8. Christian Miller (US) 20.73.
100(0.8): 1. Bednarek 9.86 PR; 2. Levell 10.02; 3. Hughes 10.05; 4. Coleman 10.12; 5. De Grasse 10.15; 6. Brown 10.20; 7. Onwuzurike 10.20;… dnc—Miller.
Long Sprints
400: 1. ¶Matthew Hudson-Smith (GB) 44.51; 2. Khaleb McRae (US) 45.04; 3. Jereem Richards (Tri) 45.05;
4. Muzala Samukonga (Zam) 45.10; 5. Matthew Boling (US) 45.21; 6. Alexander Ogando (DR) 45.87; 7. Jevaughn Powell (Jam) 46.08; 8. Steven Gardiner (Bah) 46.88.
200(0.8): 1. Ogando 20.13; 2. Richards 20.34; 3. Gardiner 20.49; 4. Samukonga 20.56; 5. Hudson-Smith 20.70; 6. McRae 20.87; 7. Boling 20.87; 8. Powell 20.91.
Short Distance
800: 1. ¶Marco Arop (Can) 1:43.38; 2. Josh Hoey (US) 1:44.41; 3. Yared Nuguse (US) 1:45.36; 4. Hobbs Kessler (US) 1:45.60;
5. Josh Kerr (GB) 1:45.80; 6. Cole Hocker (US) 1:45.81; 7. Samuel Chapple (Neth) 1:46.07; 8. Elliot Giles (GB) 1:46.73.
1500: 1. Kerr 3:34.44; 2. Hocker 3:34.51; 3. Kessler 3:34.91; 4. Arop 3:35.38 PR; 5. Hoey 3:35.45 PR; 6. Nuguse 3:35.59; 7. Chapple 3:37.33 PR; 8. Giles 3:39.92.
Long Distance
3000: 1. ¶Nico Young (US) 8:01.03 PR; 2. Sam Gilman (US) 8:01.70 PR; 3. Ky Robinson (Aus) 8:01.92 PR;
4. Andrew Coscoran (Ire) 8:02.17; 5. Graham Blanks (US) 8:03.22 PR; 6. Edwin Kurgat (Ken) 8:04.18; 7. Ronald Kwemoi (Ken) 8:06.03;… dnc—Grant Fisher (US).
Short Hurdles
110H(0.7): 1. ¶Jamal Britt (US) 13.08; 2. Cordell Tinch (US) 13.10; 3. Trey Cunningham (US) 13.18; 4. Daniel Roberts (US) 13.30;
5. Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli (Ita) 13.55; 6. Freddie Crittenden (US) 13.58; 7. Eric Edwards (US) 13.66; 8. Jakub Szymański (Pol) 13.67.
100(-1.9): 1. Cunningham 10.36; 2. Britt 10.50; 3. Simonelli 10.52; 4. Tinch 10.57 PR; 5. Edwards 10.90; 6. Szymański 10.93 PR; 7. Crittenden 10.96;… dnc—Roberts.
Long Hurdles
400H: 1. Alison dos Santos (Bra) 48.11; 2. ¶Trevor Bassitt (US) 48.25; 3. Chris Robinson (US) 48.76; 4. Caleb Dean (US) 49.48;
5. CJ Allen (US) 49.61; 6. Assinie Wilson (Jam) 49.68; 7. Gerald Drummond (CRC) 50.39; 8. Clement Ducos (Fra) 50.53.
400: 1. Bassitt 45.47; 2. Robinson 45.62; 3. dos Santos 45.63; 4. Dean 46.01; 5. Wilson 46.24; 6. Drummond 47.37; 7. Ducos 47.59; 8. Allen 48.34.
