Tradition meets Grand Slam Track innovation at the iconic Franklin Field track
Is Franklin Field track’s greatest venue?
Grand Slam Track, the most exciting innovation in athletics in decades, is coming to its oldest US stadium. Franklin Field stadium in Philadelphia, which features a Rekortan track and is home to the Penn Relays Carnival and the University of Pennsylvania’s renowned athletic program, is one of the most iconic stadiums in the world.
As the latest innovation in the sport moves in for its third Slam, a disruptive new format meets a unique and historic venue.
Franklin Field - Penn Relays
130 years of track history
Built in 1895, Franklin Field is the oldest, still running, college stadium in the US. Later becoming one of the few large fields of its time to host baseball as well as football (as home to the NFL Philadelphia Eagles) and athletics, the stadium was firmly founded on track and field with the first Penn Relay Carnival marking its opening.
Over the subsequent 130 years, this atmospheric venue has hosted some of athletics’ most historic moments and draws the biggest crowds in the world outside of the Olympic Games and World Championships.
Historic, authentic and intimate
The current stadium structure was built in the 1920s by architects Frank Miles Day and Charles Klauder.
Whilst other beautiful stadiums were being constructed in the same era, including the Art Deco style Amsterdam Olympic Stadium in the Netherlands which also features a Rekortan track, Franklin Field, designed fittingly in the shape of a letter U, is unique.
The stadium’s Collegiate Gothic style, with its brick façade, arches, and towers evoke the grandeur of classic academic institutions. Franklin Field is truly beautiful, not because it’s flashy, but because it embodies tradition, character, and the heartbeat of the amazing athletes who have gone before.
Franklin Field
A distinctive track – 400m is achieved in lane 4
The track itself is also unique because 400m is achieved in lane four and not in lane one like most tracks around the world. As Aaron Robison, Penn Relay’s Associate Director explains:
“Franklin Field has quirky dimensions… The track was historically a six-lane track, and when they expanded to nine, they couldn't go on the outside because there's a brick wall that goes all the way around, so they went on the inside. This makes it a very wide track and that leads to very fast times.”
The inward expansion of the track helped to accommodate the full fields of the Penn Relays. This quirkiness combines with the quality of a recently resurfaced Rekortan M99 track. The stadium has featured a Rekortan track since 1988.
“At Franklin Field, the Grand Slam Track Racers and Challengers go head-to-head with history. And records will fall in Philly.”
From Nurmi to Bolt
Over the years, chapter upon chapter of track history has been written at Franklin Field.
From the legendary ‘Flying Finn’, Paavo Nurmi, whose Gold medals in the mile and 5,000m in 1929 attracted a record-breaking crowd, to Usain Bolt who surpassed that attendance 80 years later when he ran one of the fastest 4x100m legs ever recorded (8.79) in front of 54,310 fans.
Sydney McLaughlin - Penn Relays champion and Grand Slam Racer
Sydney McLaughlin won the Girls Relay award at the 2017 Penn Relays 4x100 and her 100m hurdles Olympic Development event record still stands today.
As a Grand Slam Track Racer, the ‘unbeatable athlete’ will return to Franklin Field to race her own 100m hurdles Penn Relays record and run her first ever professional 100m.
Track history and future in the making
At Franklin Field, the Grand Slam Track Racers and Challengers go head-to-head with history. And records will fall in Philly.
Yared Nuguse broke the 45-year-old venue record for the mile at the 2024 Penn Relays. As a Grand Slam Track Racer, he’ll return in 2025 with the chance to claim the 1,500m venue record too. He faces Adam Dixon’s 1984 mark of 3:36.71 as well as formidable contemporaries Kerr, Hocker and new Challenger, Hobbs Kessler.
In the women’s battle over the same distance, the venue record since 1980 from all-time great, Mary Slaney (4:00.85) will be a tough record to beat, adding a strong historical ‘competitor’ to the race for Grand Slam Track Racers Jessica Hull, Diribe Welteji and Nikki Hiltz.
Michael Johnson, 1998 Penn Relays
The home of Michael Johnson’s last US race… and now his vision for track’s future
Michael Johnson’s 4x100m Penn Relays win on the Franklin Field track in 2001 was his last ever race on US soil.
When the Racers and Challengers line up in Philly, athletics’ past will meet track’s future as the home of Michael Johnson’s last domestic race hosts the US track legend’s vision.
History and future will be made.
Check back here for more on Grand Slam Track including the rivalries to watch in Philly.
Click here for more on Franklin Field and the Penn Relays.
Click here for more on Rekortan’s historic tracks.