A crowd of just 7,000 turned up to watch the Los Angeles Grand Prix, which USATF have pledged to continue supporting to help raise the profile of the sport before the 2028 Olympics ©Twitter

USA Track & Field (USATF) have pledged their full support to the Los Angeles Grand Prix as part of its strategy to help raise interest in the sport before the 2028 Olympic Games in the Californian city.

A crowd of 7,249 turned up at the University of California's Drake Stadium on Saturday (May 27) to watch this year’s inaugural event which was billed as the biggest gathering of athletics talent in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics.

The highlight of an event that was part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series was the world record set in the shot put by America’s Ryan Crouser, whose effort of 23.56 metres added 19 centimetres to his own mark.

USA Track & Field chief executive Max Siegel, second right, has promised to continue supporting the Los Angeles Grand Prix in the build up to the 2028 Olympics ©LinkedIn
USA Track & Field chief executive Max Siegel, second right, has promised to continue supporting the Los Angeles Grand Prix in the build up to the 2028 Olympics ©LinkedIn

The event lost money, but USATF chief executive Max Siegel believes that the meeting will pay dividends.

"When we look at it as an investment for the long-term future, absolutely," Siegel told the Los Angeles Times. 

"We got tremendous support from our sponsors.

"We want to create the opportunity for our athletes to earn money, to be fitness-ready, and to build their brands, and we see this as a long-term investment here in Los Angeles and domestically for the sport as well."

World Athletics under its President Sebastian Coe have long had the aim of making the sport more popular in the United States and have joined forces with USATF on a series of initiatives called "Project America".

"Part of our strategic plan is to use our World Championships as a catalyst that we had last year [in Eugene] and build up to LA 2028, so we’re excited about coming back here next year and several other markets here in the States," Siegel told the Los Angeles Times.

Besides Crouser, other highlights included Sweden’s world record holder Mondo Duplantis winning the men’s pole vault, Puerto Rico’s Olympic champion storming to victory in the 100 metres hurdles and America’s Rio 2016 bronze medallist Clayton Murphy setting a season’s best to take the 800m.

Isaiah Harris, who finished sixth in the 800m behind Murphy, warned that there is still much work to do before athletics regains the popularity it once had in the US.

"Just like as an athlete, there's obstacles in your way sometimes and you’ve got to figure out a way to get over them and get better, and USATF needs to model themselves after that, just like the athletes they promote," Harris told the Los Angeles Times.

"I think we can get there.

"The sport is big in Europe. 

"I don’t see why it can’t be big here."