Athlos NYC betting on women’s track star power
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Gabby Thomas, who won three golds at the Paris Olympics, is among the marquee names who will take part in Athlos NYC.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
NEW YORK – Entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian’s latest big bet on women’s sport starts on Sept 26, as his novel, women-only track event Athlos NYC hopes to open a new chapter for athletics in the United States.
Ohanian was the lead investor behind National Women’s Soccer League side Angel City, which became the world’s most valuable women’s sport franchise four years after its founding in 2020 with a landmark new ownership agreement that valued the team at US$250 million (S$321 million).
He believes he can recreate that success on the track at Icahn Stadium, where he has lured some of the sport’s brightest stars for Athlos’ inaugural meet with supersized prize money and an athlete-first approach.
“You just look at the follower counts, you look at the engagement. Women athletes – and in this example, with track – just are way more compelling,” Ohanian, who is married to tennis great Serena Williams, said.
“I have a ‘spidey sense’ for where there are hyper-engaged communities of fans and women’s sport has them in droves.”
Six events will be contested, with the winners each pocketing US$60,000 – twice the prize money offered at the 2024 Diamond League finale – with a purse totalling US$500,000. On top of that, 10 per cent of all event revenues will be distributed to participants.
“I asked these women, I was like, ‘Hey, so what is your top prize at the end of a season for winning?’ And they said $30,000. And I said, ‘Great, I’m going to double it for one single race’,” Ohanian said.
Athlos arrives amid a broader push to better compensate athletes in the sport. World Athletics paid Olympic champions for the first time at the Paris Games, with US$50,000 going to each gold medallist.
The Diamond League, long seen as the standard-bearer for professional athletics, announced on Sept 18 that it would raise prize money for the 2025 season as rival events muscle in.
Retired American sprinting great Michael Johnson’s new Grand Slam track offers enormous paydays ranging from US$10,000 to US$100,000 for the circuit launching in 2025.
Workers at Icahn Stadium were setting up for a party atmosphere on Sept 25, assembling the stage where Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion will perform, and competitors told reporters they expected something special.
“We have a stage right in the middle of the track – that’s not very typical for a track meet and I think it’s really exciting,” said 200m Olympic champion Gabrielle Thomas, who also won two relay golds in Paris.
“It’s going to be an experience for the spectators. I think track really needs that.”
The American is among the headliners, along with compatriot Masai Russell, who won the 100m hurdles in Paris, 1,500m world record holder Faith Kipyegon of Kenya and Dominican 400m Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino. REUTERS
