Grand Slam Track has focused on announcing the big names in sprint distances. And they have signed many. Now for the middle-distances and the 5000m, the shortest of the so-called distance runs.

Runners will contest the 800m and 1500m, and 3000m while long-distance runners will compete in the 5000m. In each event group, four racers will take on four challengers in pursuit of prize money, pride, and the title of Slam champion.

Most recently announced names were Ethiopian Diribe Welteji, Kenyan Mary Moraa, American Nikki Hiltz and Australian Jessica Hull.

Diribe Welteji

According to Grand Slam Track Welteji is the ultimate tactician and is strong from the 800m to the 3000m. She holds personal bests of 1:57.02 in the 800m, 3:52.75 in the metric mile and 8:21.50 in the 3000m event. Welteji finished fourth in the Paris Olympic 1500m event, narrowly missing out on a medal. She is, however, a World Championships silver medallist from the 2023 Budapest meet.

“If scientists could have built the ideal Grand Slam Track Racer in a lab then they couldn’t have come up with a more perfect archetype than Diribe Welteji,” from the Grand Slam Track media release.

Mary Moraa

The Kenyan 800m specialist has mixed it up with the world’s best in American Athing Mu and Brit Keely Hodgkinson, beating both on occasion.

Her personal best is 1:56.03 when she won gold at the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships. She has come up mortal as she was soundly defeated by Hodgkinson at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. which Moraa will show up to the Grand Slam Track events remains to be seen, but she is capable of winning it all.

“Mary Moraa does not have a 1500 time to her name, but she will soon! The world record holder at 600m and the owner of a 1:56.03 personal best over two laps, the Olympic bronze medallist is ready to take on a new (and longer) challenge. Moraa has always possessed the ability to shift gears and wreak havoc from the front, but will the other Racers be able to stop her?” Asks Grand Slam Track.

Nikki Hiltz

GST media release asks, “It should be pretty easy to beat someone if you knew exactly what they were going to do, right?”

Not with Nikki Hiltz. They will wait and wait and wait – daring you to make a move strong enough to drop them, but the six-time USATF National Champion knows if you’ve got the best last 100m in the field then it’s best to use it. The story of Hiltz’s career is persistence. The talent was always there and now it can no longer be hidden. The key is simple: a happy runner is a fast one. And you can count on smiles at the start line. Nikki’s ability to run either quick 1500s or tactical ones make them deadly in championship races. Now the thing other Racers may not be ready for… that skill translates to the 800 too!

Hiltz owns a 1500m best of 3:55.33 and the national record in the mile at 4:16.35.

She finished seventh in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games but did win the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow Arena in the same event.

Jessica Hull

“The Australian middle-distance star let the world know she had levelled up when she dropped almost seven seconds from her personal best to crush a surprising 3:50.83 1500m earlier this summer in the Paris Diamond League. In so doing, she broke the Australian and Oceana record.

She also has 3000m speed having run 8:24.39.

The Paris Olympic Games silver medallist was a surprise in Paris as she finished seventh in both the 2022 Eugene and 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships. She has now consistently run under the 4:00.00 benchmark since 2021.

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