Men’s 400m, Grand Slam Track, Kingston, Jamaica – The day a new benchmark was set for any athlete who dared step into the distance in 2025. With his signature, Googles, and the Nike headband on, Christopher Bailey took to lane number 7, and as soon as the shot went off, he jolted. He held the number 2 position for some time, but when the curve came to the speed demons, Bailey started to take the lead, and he didn’t give it up until he ran through the finish line in 44.34 seconds. The fastest 400m of 2025 – a record that lasted for less than 10 days. Who broke it?
It was the 44 Farms Team Invitational when Bryce Deadmon donned his black tee and gray trunks and took his mark for 400m. The way he dominated the race, you could say he had the speed demon in him. William Jones, who finished second, clocked 45.09 seconds. Jalen Williams finished third with a 45.49. Bryce Deadmon, with his number position, is way ahead, clocking 44.30 seconds. The new fastest of 2025. But what is also shocking is that he is still unsponsored.
“Bryce Deadmon is an Olympian. He is an Olympic gold medalist. Granted, it was in a relay, and that’s part of the conversation. But the fact that he doesn’t have a pro sponsor, and makes it very clear on his social media account that he is an unsigned athlete.” said popular YouTuber, Coach Rob Track and Field in his recent video titled, ‘This isn’t just UNFAIR, it’s SAD?! || Why the FASTEST man in 2025 STILL has NO SPONSOR?!‘
Below the flex of 2x Olympic Champion, World Champion, and US Champion on Bryce Deadmon’s Instagram bio, you would also find that he has written the word unsigned there. Hence forth no sponsors. In the 44th invitational as well, when all the other athletes like USC ones ran with sponsors on their backs, Bryce ran in what Rob describes as pro combat shorts and a black singlet and pro combat shorts.
Now he is not the first track and field athlete that has run sponsorless. Not even the first sponsorless athlete to break a world record, not even the first elite one to do so. But this has indeed attracted some reactions from the fans.
Fans react to Bryce Deadmon being sponsorless
The reaction of fans has varied from shock to deep analysis as Coach Rob broke the news. One fan used this incident to highlight how demotivating this can be for other young athletes. He said, “As a student athlete in Africa, these types of situations where very talented athletes such as Bryce that don’t get what they deserve can be very discouraging for us that are trying to make a way forward/future with this sport” One such example could be Erin Brown, a Grand Canyon University athlete, who went to back to cleaning restaurant after running world-leading time.
Some fans have even talked of GST as well, citing, “Track & Field is wack and the athletes that avoided Grand Slam just reinforced that fact. I agree with you on the shock value of unsigned track talents ” Grand Slam Track offered 100k to every slam champion and 8k to every racer. Perhaps that is why one other fan commented, “Bryce should be running GST!”
Some fans have even gone on to fact-check, one found that “He was with Nike at one point” another found that one point and commented, “Prior to this year, he was signed to Nike”. He has been seen in Nike attire earlier like in the US National Championships 2023.
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