The BBC minimize ties with a four-time Olympic champion and TV favorite following latest monetary struggles.
Michael Johnson (L) is not going to seem on BBC athletics protection in 2026 (Picture: Getty)
Dash icon Michael Johnson is not going to kind a part of the BBC’s athletics protection this 12 months. That is after the American’s Grand Slam Monitor (GST) competitors went bust in December and left each athletes and traders out of pocket.
4-time Olympic gold medal-winner Johnson opened his monitor and discipline league forward of the 2025 season. The enterprise hoped to carry collectively the most important names in mentioned disciplines on a extra common foundation, promising main pay days in contemporary codecs in a bid to drive the game into a brand new period. However these aspirations got here crumbling down after Johnson’s innovation filed for voluntary chapter on the finish of 2025. Grand Slam Monitor has mentioned it nonetheless hopes to stage occasions in 2026, as soon as its monetary difficulties have been resolved.
Within the meantime, nevertheless, BBC Sport confirmed the broadcaster has put its working relationship on maintain. The report cites sources, who prompt there are not any plans for Johnson to look on BBC programming in 2026.
The eight-time world champion began working for the BBC in 2001 shortly after his retrirement from the monitor. He is turn into a favorite amongst British followers in additional than twenty years working for the broadcaster however hasn’t appeared on BBC screens for the reason that Paris 2024 Olympics.
In accordance with a assessment revealed by the Affiliation of Athletics Managers in January 2026, GST had money owed of greater than £22.5million on the time. Scotland’s Josh Kerr, who received Olympic silver within the 1,500 metres at Paris 2024, is known to be owed £123,000, in line with paperwork filed with a chapter court docket for the US district of Delaware.
“After all I’m pissed off,” he informed BBC Sport. “I’m owed some huge cash, so in any enterprise anybody’s going to be pissed off. I don’t notably know proper now the place to push these frustrations and the place they need to sit.”
Nevertheless, he refused to pile blame purely on Johnson, including: “I’ve had conversations with Michael, I’ve had info given to me by my brokers on these things. I don’t assume these are dangerous individuals. I believe this can be a horrible scenario.”
Johnson’s Grand Slam Monitor faces an unsure future, with hundreds of thousands owed to debtors (Picture: Getty)
In an unselfish flip, Kerr as an alternative centered his vitality on these in much less safe positions. And his phrases nod to the precarious nature affecting these much less outstanding athletes who’re relying extra on prize cash and sponsorships being paid on time.
“I’m not tremendous nervous about myself,” he continued. “I’m nervous about among the different athletes, they usually had their tales uncovered of working jobs and never being sponsored, after which they’d this life-changing cash. That’s what I care about.”
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Amid the confusion surrounding GST’s funds, Johnson was not too long ago accused of accepting a £375,000 cost from the corporate earlier than its final occasion, at a time when he was purportedly conscious athletes would go unpaid. Nevertheless, GST has refuted the allegations and reiterated Johnson continued to inject hundreds of thousands of his personal cash to maintain the enterprise working.
Together with Kerr, former European 400-metre champion Matthew Hudson-Smith is claimed to be owed £107,500 for his half within the first season of GST. In the meantime, Olympic silver medallist relay sprinter Daryll Neita is believed to be owed £21,000, and ex-200m world champion Dina Asher-Smith remains to be to obtain £17,850 in winnings.
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