Arop aims for 'next gear' with Grand Slam Track after capturing Olympic 800m silver

Marco Arop, who ran to an Olympic silver medal in August, is the first Canadian to join Grand Slam Track before the professional league's inaugural season in 2025.

The reigning 800-metre world champion's contract signing was announced Tuesday.

"Running has always been about finding that next gear. … It's about constant growth and seeing where my training can take me," Arop told Grand Slam Track. "I'm incredibly excited to get this thing going."

The league is the brainchild of retired U.S. sprinter Michael Johnson and expected to launch next April with plans for one event in Los Angeles, home of the 2028 Olympics, one in another American city and two more overseas.

The plan is for nearly 100 of the sport's top performers to gather four times a year to compete for $12.6 million US in prize money over the first season. As of June, Grand Slam Track had secured over $30 million in financial commitment.

Arop, 26, is the first 800m athlete to join the league's short distance racer group that includes Cole Hockey, who won 1,500m gold in Paris this past summer, and the silver and bronze medallists from that Olympic final — Great Britain's Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse of the United States.

WATCH l Arop secures 1,000-metre victory in Zagreb:

Next year, each athlete in the short racer group would receive points for their finishing position in an 800m and 1,500m race. The athlete with the highest point total would win the Slam and $100,000 US top prize.

Calgary-born Grant Fisher of Michigan, who won 5,000m and 10,000m bronze in Paris, is also on board in a different group.

Arop, the former Mississippi State University athlete who still lives and trains in Starkville, has competed in two 1,500m races in his career, with a personal best of three minutes 38.36 seconds, or nearly 11 seconds shy of Hocker (3:27.65), Kerr (3:27.79) and Nuguse (3:27.80).

WATCH l Arop sets Canadian, North American mark in Olympic 800m final:

Arop ran 1:41.20 over 800 metres for a Canadian and North American record in the Paris Olympic final. Hocker's PB is 1:45.63 from this past June, while Kerr clocked a 1:45.35 PB in July 2019. Nuguse's best 800m time is 1:46.30 from May 2023.

After the Paris Olympics, Arop attempted to lower the 2:11.96 outdoor men's world record over 1,000 metres and clocked 2:13.13 at the Boris Hanžeković Memorial in Zagreb, Croatia to set Canadian and meet records in the non-Olympic distance. The time is No. 5 on the all-time list.