Jessica Hull is set to race in a new $20 million league. She sees it as a potential game-changer in the fight for junior talent

Jessica Hull's medal-winning run at the Paris Olympics inspired thousands of sports-mad Australian kids to explore the rare path taken by her — the path where athletics outmuscles codes such as the NRLW, the AFLW, football and cricket in the fight for junior talent.

Eight months on, the 1500m silver medallist hopes lacing up for the inaugural season of a lucrative professional track league has the same effect.

Hull is the only Australian in a pool of 96 athletes set to compete in Grand Slam Track — a league masterminded by American sprinting legend Michael Johnson and backed by a record-breaking stash of US$12.6 million (about A$20 million).

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In addition to vying for prize money, Hull is one of 48 athletes in the 96-strong field earning an annual salary.

Four three-day grand slams are set to be held and the first, taking place in the Jamaican capital, will begin on Saturday (AEST).

Hull is locked in for the women's "short distance" category, meaning the Albion Park product is set to race over 800m and 1500m at each of the grand slams, to be held in Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Australian athletics fans were let down last week when it was revealed Grand Slam Track would be broadcast in 189 countries, but not Australia.

Hull admitted that "surprised" her, but the 28-year-old hopes the knowledge that she is signed to the big-money league heightens the appeal of athletics in the sport's battle for junior talent en route to Brisbane 2032.

"Having a professional league around you and financial presence, it means you can just focus on taking care of business and you're not worried about how you're going to make it work, and that's definitely really important," Hull told Wide World of Sports from Kingston.

"It's a sport that is continuing to grow and innovate. This is a sustainable pathway and there's a lot of opportunity that can come if you let the track do the talking.

"I'm always someone kids can reach out to, especially when it comes to questions about the NCAA [where she studied and raced with the University of Oregon] or navigating the next step in their career. There's no wall up. If someone has a question and can get to me, I'm more than happy to help with them."

Every athlete contracted to Grand Slam Track, including Hull, four-time Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and former world champion Fred Kerley, is still allowed to compete in other professional leagues, including the Diamond League, which has 15 annual meets and in 2025 is backed by US$9.24 million in prize money (A$14 million).

One of the main reasons why Johnson launched Grand Slam Track was because athletes such as McLaughlin-Levrone were competing very little outside Olympic Games, although he's never placed blame on those athletes, rather a lack of incentive to race.

The men's and women's winners of each of the six race categories at each Grand Slam Track event will pocket US$100,000 (A$158,000) in prize money, meaning the maximum an athlete can earn in prize money across the season is US$400,000 ($A634,000).

Regardless of where an athlete ranks in each of the grand slams — each race category has eight competitors — they will collect a sum of prize money ranging from US$100,000 (A$158,000) to US$10,000 (about A$16,000).

No athletics league has ever offered as big a pool of prize money as Grand Slam Track's US$12.6 million.

Such a financial investment can only be a good thing for kids hoping to follow the path Hull has forged as an elite runner, rather than dreaming to be like AFLW sensation Tayla Harris or Matildas superstar Mary Fowler.

The Australian Olympic Committee's new chief executive, former Athletics Australia president Mark Arbib, was asked on Wednesday what his greatest challenge was as he took on the role.

"We're in a fight for talent, and we need to ensure that kids wake up [and] parents want to enrol their kids in Olympic sports," Arbib replied, speaking at a media opportunity where Brisbane 2032 was a key theme.

Hull, who in Paris became the first Australian distance runner to win an Olympic medal since Ralph Doubell in 1968, hopes Australia's next generation recognises how "special" it is that the country is set to host an Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"I was seeing one of the physios [in the US this week] and he was like, 'So we've got to keep you healthy until 2032', and I was like, 'I would love to be on the start line in 2032'. There's just such a hype around," said Hull, who will be 35 when the Brisbane Games roll around.

"Having felt so much support and everything behind me in Paris, in a totally different time zone on the other side of the world, I can only imagine what that's like being at home in Australia and having that right there on your doorstop. It's pretty awesome to consider.

"There are [Australian] athletes who could be running for gold medals in Brisbane, and I'm sure that reminds them every morning if they're a little bit tired that there's something pretty cool not that far way."