 | Today we're looking ahead to Andre De Grasse's debut in the new Grand Slam track league. Plus, it's a big night in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Canada hired a new men's basketball head coach, and it's time for the elimination rounds at the mixed doubles curling world championship. | | | Andre De Grasse joins Grand Slam Track this weekend | | | Grand Slam Track, the new league fronted by American sprint legend Michael Johnson, debuted last month in Jamaica to mixed reviews.
On the plus side, American stars Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (women's long hurdles), Gabby Thomas (women's long sprints) and Kenny Bednarek (men's short sprints) delivered strong performances to win their categories. And Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenyan won the loaded men's short distance division by upsetting the entire 1,500m podium from Paris in their signature race before placing second to Canadian rival Marco Arop in the 800.
In case you need a refresher, Grand Slam Track's main innovation is that fans get to see their favourite athletes race twice over the course of a three-day meet, in two different but similar events. They earn points based on where they finish in each race, and whoever has the most points at the end of the weekend wins their group and the top prize of $100,000 US.
It's a good premise. But the inaugural meet was poorly attended, with the main grandstand at Kingston's National Stadium less than half full throughout the weekend and the bleachers along the turns and the back straight almost completely empty.
The dearth of paying customers in one of the track capitals of the world was blamed on everything from ineffective local marketing to a lack of parking, but GST's main problem is more difficult to solve: not enough stars are buying in.
The GST's ultimate goal is to bring together the world's best track athletes for four meets a year — much like the tennis Grand Slams or the four majors in men's golf. This would resolve a gripe that some fans have with the incumbent Diamond League, where there are more than a dozen events to choose from and stars can easily duck each other in pursuit of a smoother payday.
But, for many athletes, that's a feature, not a bug. They enjoy the flexibility of the Diamond League and are reluctant to sign on for four Grand Slam events, even though full participation in Johnson's series comes with a base salary and access to much bigger prize money than the typical Diamond League meet, which pays just $10,000 US to its winners.
Some athletes also aren't keen on having to compete twice in three days, with one of those races perhaps falling outside of their comfort zone. Others would rather not travel to Jamaica and the United States for the GST meets, preferring the mostly European Diamond League stops.
As a result of those and other factors, the list of big names who have not joined Grand Slam Track include Olympic 100m champions Noah Lyles and Julien Alfred, 100m world champ Sha'Carri Richardson, and multiple Olympic gold-winning distance stars Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Faith Kipyegon. In fact, only six of the 19 individual track gold medallists from last summer's Paris Olympics are on the full-time roster.
However, GST allows anyone to jump in for a meet without signing on as a full-time "Racer," as the salaried athletes are called. These "Challengers" get an appearance fee and are eligible for full prize money, just like the regulars.
The Challengers for the second Slam this week in Miami include De Grasse, who makes his GST debut in the men's short sprints category. The Canadian star's competition includes Bednarek, former 100m world champ Fred Kerley of the U.S., and Jerome Blake — De Grasse's teammate on the Canadian 4x100m relay squad that shocked the world by winning Olympic gold last summer.
De Grasse skipped the GST opener in favour of the somewhat backwater Florida Relays, where he began his outdoor season by winning the 200m and the 4x100 with his Olympic teammates. That meet took place in Gainesville, where De Grasse now trains with his new coach Mike Holloway.
The Miami Slam is also close to home, giving the 30-year-old father of three a chance to face top-notch competition without having to go overseas for a Diamond League meet. The two-race format also suits De Grasse, who owns an Olympic gold and silver in the 200m and a pair of bronze in the 100, along with a medal of each colour in the 4x100.
"I'm used to doing two races at a time," De Grasse said. "So I don't think that would affect me or bother me as much as other athletes."
The 100m race on Saturday at 6:53 p.m. ET in Miami will be De Grasse's first crack at that distance since failing to qualify for the Olympic final last summer in Paris. The 200m for the men's short sprint group goes Sunday at 5:21 p.m. ET to close out the meet.
Arop, who is GST's only Canadian full-timer, returns in the men's short distance group after placing second in Kingston. The Olympic 800m silver medallist and reigning world champ finished sixth out of eight in the 1,500m — a distance he'd raced just twice in his career — before his 800m victory over Wanyonyi, who may have been gassed from his stunning victory in the 1,500 the night before.
Wanyonyi, who was a Challenger in Kingston, is not competing in Miami. But Arop will once again be up against American Cole Hocker, Great Britain's Josh Kerr and American Yared Nuguse — the gold, silver and bronze medallists, respectively, in the 1,500m at the Paris Olympic. The 1,500 goes Friday at 5:51 p.m., and the 800 on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Two other Canadian Olympians are competing as Challengers in Miami. Lucia Stafford makes her Slam debut in the women's short distance, while Charles Philibert-Thiboutot returns in the men's long distance after finishing last in both the 3,000m and 5,000m in Kingston.
Here's the full schedule of events and startlists for Miami, and here's more on De Grasse's Slam debut from CBC Sports' Justin Piercy. You can watch the entire meet live on CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca — Friday and Saturday from 5-8 p.m. ET and Sunday 3-6 p.m. ET.
The Diamond League is also holding its second meet of the season this weekend near Shanghai. Top Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton will try to rebound from last week's fifth-place finish in Xiamen, China, while other stars in action include reigning Olympic champions Mondo Duplantis of Sweden (men's pole vault), Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine (women's high jump) and Quincy Hall of the U.S. (men's 400m), and three-time men's 400m hurdles world champ Karsten Warholm of Norway. The men's 100m features Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica and Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who won 200m gold in Paris.
Watch the Diamond League meet live on CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca on Saturday from 7-9 a.m. ET. Here's the full schedule and startlists. | | |  | Seven-time Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse is ready to give Grand Slam Track a shot. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) | | | Quickly… | | | Some other things to know:
1. Four NHL elimination games are on tap tonight.
After winning two straight to stay alive in the series, the Ottawa Senators will try to extend the Battle of Ontario to a decisive seventh game when they host Toronto tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The Maple Leafs are now 1-13 in games where they had a chance to advance to the next round since Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander first appeared in the post-season together in 2017.
Edmonton is even hotter than Ottawa, winning three straight since falling behind 2-0 to the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers can complete the comeback at home tonight at 10 p.m. ET. Leon Draisaitl, who scored the overtime winner for Edmonton in Game 4, was named a finalist for NHL MVP today along with Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck and Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov.
Vegas can close out Minnesota at 7:30 p.m. ET, while Dallas looks to put Colorado away at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Two teams advanced last night as Washington eliminated Montreal while Stanley Cup champion Florida took out Kucherov's Lightning — both in five games. Hellebuyck and the Jets rebounded from two horrible games to beat St. Louis and go up 3-2 in their series, but Winnipeg will be without Mark Scheifele for Game 6 on Friday after the star forward took a couple of big hits, leading to some verbal sparring between the two head coaches.
2. The Canadian men's basketball team hired a new head coach.
Gordie Herbert, a 66-year-old former national team player from Penticton, B.C. who led Germany to a FIBA World Cup title in 2023, will take over next year, Basketball Canada announced today.
Herbert replaces Spaniard Jordi Fernandez, who guided Canada to an historic bronze medal at the World Cup and its first Olympic berth in 24 years before stepping down in February to focus on his main job as head coach of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. Here's more on Herbert.
A pair of elimination Game 6s are coming up in the NBA playoffs tonight. At 7:30 p.m. ET, the New York Knicks take another crack at bouncing Detroit. At 10 p.m. ET, Canada's Jamal Murray will try to help Denver put away the Los Angeles Clippers. Murray had his best playoff game in years on Tuesday, scoring 43 points to put the Nuggets up 3-2. The winner of the series faces Canadian star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the top-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder.
Last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated Luka Doncic and LeBron James' L.A. Lakers in five with a big game by centre Rudy Gobert, while Houston forced a Game 6 against Golden State.
3. Canada is set for the playoffs at the mixed doubles curling world championship.
The married couple of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant finished third in Group A after losing their round-robin finale 8-7 to Scotland this afternoon in Fredericton, N.B. The Canadians were headed for a win and second place in the group before the Scottish duo of men's world champion Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds scored three points in the final end of regulation and then stole one in the extra to complete the comeback.
Both teams finished with 7-2 records, but Scotland leapfrogged Canada for second place due to the head-to-head win. Reigning world champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosane of Italy went a perfect 9-0 to take the top spot and a bye to the semifinals.
Australia (7-1) had clinched first place and the bye in Group B heading into the final round-robin draw this evening. The other spots in the six-team playoffs were still up for grabs.
Canada will face the second-seeded team in Group B in the first round of the playoffs on Friday at 9 a.m. ET while Scotland meets the third-place team. The winners advance to the semis at 5 p.m. ET. The final is on Saturday afternoon. | | | And very quickly… | | | Two more things before we go:
* Canadian tennis player Gabriel Diallo's improbable run at the Madrid Open ended with a straight-sets quarterfinal loss to 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy today. The 78th-ranked Diallo was initially eliminated in qualifying, but he got into the main draw when another player withdrew. The 23-year-old made the most of the second chance with his deepest run ever at a Masters-level tournament.
* The Vancouver Whitecaps beat Lionel Messi's Inter Miami 3-1 last night to reach the CONCACAF Champions Cup final. Vancouver, which defeated Miami 2-0 in their opening leg last week in front of more than 53,000 fans at BC Place, will face the winner of the other semifinal between Mexican clubs Cruz Azul and Tigres, which concludes tonight. | | | That's it for today. Talk to you tomorrow. | | | | Not subscribed? Sign up here to get the Buzzer delivered to your inbox. Got an idea, question, comment or other feedback on the newsletter? Drop us a line at thebuzzer@cbc.ca. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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