There will be a notable absence during the BBC‘s athletics coverage this year following their decision to omit one pundit.
Olympic legend Michael Johnson has been a mainstay of the BBC’s team since 2001 but will not cover the sport for them for a second year running.
The 58-year-old has not worked for the broadcaster since the conclusion of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After that, the four-time Olympic champion began to focus on his work with the Grand Slam Track league (GST) which has since encountered a myriad of issues.
The Johnson-backed project filed for bankruptcy in December 2025, owing six-figure debts to a number of leading tracks stars, including British runners Josh Kerr, Matt Hudson-Smith and Daryll Neita as well as 400m hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the US.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Olympic silver medallist Kerr said: ‘Of course I’m frustrated – I’m owed a lot of money.
Michael Johnson will not be part of BBC’s athletics coverage for 2026 amid his company’s bankruptcy woes
Johnson has been accused of paying himself $500,000 despite knowing his Grand Slam Track league owed millions to athletes
‘In any business, anyone is going to be frustrated [with that]. I just don’t particularly know right now where to push those frustrations and where they should sit.
‘I don’t think these are bad people. I’m standing with the people that I signed with. I think that they are good people. I think this is just a horrible situation.’
Neita echoed Kerr’s sentiments, telling BBC Sport. ‘Even one penny being owed is a significant amount,’ she said. ‘It’s kind of crazy. I sometimes think, “I really want my money”. An athlete deserves what they’re promised.
‘But you know, unfortunately, the league itself and Michael Johnson, ran into trouble. I don’t know the full ins and outs of exactly what happened, but I would like to believe that it wasn’t with ill intent, and it was a league that was started up with the best interest of the athletes.
‘I wouldn’t want it to be like, “Michael Johnson was a bad man.” I don’t even think that’s what it is. He’s one of the most respected athletes in the world, especially in our sport.
‘It’s not looking likely that the athletes will be paid. I’m someone that got injured in the league. That affected my season… not putting the blame on anyone. But if it’s physically not there, what can we do?’
Johnson vowed to ‘save’ track athletics when he launched his league in 2024, with the promise of lucrative prizes and elite billing. However, a key backer withdrew after the first event in Jamaica in 2024 and the plan quickly unravelled, with GST filing for bankruptcy at the end of 2025. It incurred estimated liabilities of between £7.4million ($10m) and £37.4m ($50m) to more than 200 creditors.
In a statement last August, Johnson said: ‘It is incredibly difficult to live with the reality that you’ve built something bigger than yourself while simultaneously feeling like you’ve let down the very people you set out to help.
‘We promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated. Yet, here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them.’
A spokesperson for Johnson was approached for comment.
As detailed by Daily Mail Sport last week, Johnson has also been accused of paying himself £374,690 ($500,000) at a time when he knew his doomed Grand Slam Track league owed millions to athletes.
According to claims made in a court filing in the United States, the American is alleged to have made the payment days before telling athletes that the last of four GST events had been cancelled last June due to insufficient funds.
Since then a group of unpaid vendors has sought permission to sue the individual leaders of GST, which includes Johnson and lead investors Winners Alliance. Their claim features the accusation that Johnson recouped a chunk of the money he pumped into the league on June 4, 2025 despite being aware it was in deep financial peril before the aborted meet in Los Angeles at the end of that month.
‘Mr Johnson initiated a payment of $500,000 purportedly on account of an unsecured note,’ lawyers said in a filing at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
‘Shockingly, Mr Johnson elected to secretly prefer himself over the athletes and other, non-insider creditors, while at the same time feigning to the public that he was selflessly looking to advance the interests of the athletes.’
The group, described in the filing as an ‘official committee of unsecured creditors’, is fighting against a plan proposed by GST to pay ‘general unsecured vendors’ only 1.5 per cent of what is owed, while paying ‘critical athletes’ and ‘critical vendors’ 85 per cent of their claims.
